Supreme Court Agrees To List Uddhav Faction's Plea Against ECI Proceedings To Determine "Real Shiv Sena" On August 1
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list on August 1 the application filed by Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shivsena against the proceedings initiated by the Election Commission of India on request made by the Eknath Shinde-led faction for their recognition as the 'real' Shivsena and their claim over the party's election symbol - the bow and arrow.A bench led by the Chief Justice of...
The Supreme Court on Tuesday agreed to list on August 1 the application filed by Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shivsena against the proceedings initiated by the Election Commission of India on request made by the Eknath Shinde-led faction for their recognition as the 'real' Shivsena and their claim over the party's election symbol - the bow and arrow.
A bench led by the Chief Justice of India agreed to tag the application along with other petitions filed in relation to the Shiv Sena crisis, which are listed on August 1.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav faction mentioned the matter before the CJI for urgent listing. "Till the Court decides, they can't go to the Election Commission", he said.
Senior Advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the Shinde group, said that the petitions before the Court related to the disqualification proceedings initiated by the Speaker and the Election Commission proceedings are distinct.
The CJI enquired what was the stage of proceedings before the ECI. Kaul replied that notice has been issued for August 8. Since the other Maharashtra petitions are listed on August 1, the CJI directed the listing of the present application also along with those cases.
The application has been filed in the writ petition filed by Subhash Desai, the General Secretary of Shiv Sena.
The present application seeks the Apex Court's indulgence to implead the Election Commission of India (ECI) as a necessary party in the writ petition, which, inter alia, challenges the decision of Maharashtra Governor to invite Eknath Shinde to be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
It is asserted that even though on 20.07.2022, the Court was assured by the Counsel appearing for the Speaker that no further proceedings will be conducted in the matter of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule, the Shinde-faction has initiated proceedings under Election Symbols (Reservations and Allotment) Order, 1968 seeking recognition as the 'real Shivesena' by the ECI. They also claimed the right to use the election symbol allotted to the Shivsena.
By way of a representation dated 20.07.2022, the Uddhav-led faction, has requested the ECI not to proceed with the matter citing similar issues are pending before the Apex Court. It averred that the ECI ought not to move ahead with the proceedings, especially, when the status of the persons claiming the election symbol is yet to be determined by the Court.
On 22.07.2022, a notice was served to the Uddhav-led faction wherein the ECI had stated that Eknath Sindhe and some other persons have sought to be recognised as the "real Shivsena" and are claiming right over the election symbol. The application submits, pursuantly, ECI had initiated proceedings in complete disregard of the sanctity of the status quo order of the Apex Court, as well as the Constitutional role expected of the ECI.
The application argues that if the ECI proceeds further it would cause irreparable injury as the status of the persons before the ECI is pending determination. It is further urged that Shinde-faction cannot be considered as MLAs of Shivsena and their claim and affidavits cannot be relied upon. It contends that the ECI proceedings would interfere with the inquiry sub-judice before the Court and thus amount to contempt of court.
The application also claims -
"...in acts of desperation, and to somehow portray a majority are trying to illegally cobble up numbers and fabricate an artificial majority in the organisation. It is submitted that the private Respondents have been indulging in several illegal activities contrary to the Constitution of the Shivsena."
It is stated in the application that, it appears that the Shinde-faction has called for a meeting of the National Executive Committee to Shivsena without giving any notice to all the members of the Committee which was duly constituted after the 2018 organisational elections.
The petition has been drawn by Advocate Rajesh Inamdar and filed by Advocate Anish Shah