Supreme Court Issues Notice On Uddhav Sena's Petition Challenging Maharashtra Speaker's Refusal To Disqualify Shinde Sena MLAs

The Supreme Court on Monday (January 22) issued notice on a petition filed by a member of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) challenging the refusal of the Maharashtra Speaker to disqualify the MLAs of Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) under the tenth schedule of the Constitution.

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Misra issued notice returnable within two weeks.

When the matter was taken, CJI asked the petitioner's lawyer Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal about approaching the High Court.

"Should this Court hear or the High Court under Article 226?," CJI asked. Sibal expressed concern about the adjudication getting delayed if the matter is sent to the High Court. He submitted that the Speaker's order violates the Supreme Court's judgment and hence, the Top Court ought to hear the matter. 

It may be recalled that the Eknath Shinde group has approached the Bombay High Court challenging the refusal of the Speaker to disqualify the Uddhav Thackeray group. Last week, the High Court issued notice on the Shinde group's petition.

The Special Leave Petition under Article 136 has been filed by UBT member Sunil Prabhu challenging the order dated 10.01.2024 passed by the Speaker, Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, dismissing the disqualification petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray group against each other.

Speaker Rahul Narwekar dismissed the set of disqualification petitions filed by both the Shinde and Thackeray groups against each other. The Speaker held that the Shinde group was the 'real' Shiv Sena on the ground that they had a legislative majority (majority of MLAs) when the rival factions emerged in June 2022. The Speaker also recognized the whip appointed by Shinde as the official whip of the Shiv Sena party and held that there was no violation of the whip by the Shinde group MLAs.

Uddhav Sena challenges that the Speaker's ruling violates the judgment of the Supreme Court in Subhash Desai v. Governor of Maharashtra, by conflating the concept of 'legislature party' with the 'political party”.

Case : Sunil Prabhu v. Eknath Shinde SLP(C) No. 1644-1662/2024