Shinde Sena Moves Bombay High Court Against Maharashtra Speaker For Not Disqualifying 14 Uddhav Faction MLAs

The Bombay High Court issues notices on Wednesday (17 January) in a plea challenging Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s verdict of not disqualifying 14 MLAs of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

The plea was filed by Bharat Gogawale, the chief whip of the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and notices were issued to respondents, including Narwekar with time till 8 February to file their replies.

After Narwekar's verdict that the Shinde faction is the 'real Shiv Sena', Uddhav Thackeray moved the Supreme Court on Monday (15 January) and challenged the Speaker's decision to reject petitions to disqualify MLAs.

Pointing out that the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs had voluntarily given up membership of the party, Gogawale claimed in his plea that the Speaker’s decision was “arbitrary, unconstitutional and illegal," Indian Express reported.

He further alleged that the Speaker failed to consider the material on record and therefore the order of not disqualifying the Shiv Sena (UBT) MLAs was "bad in law" which should be quashed and set aside.

However, while dismissing the petitions, the Speaker noted that MLAs had “voluntarily given up” the party’s membership was a “mere allegation” and no material was provided to substantiate it.

The Speaker further noted that the whip issued by Gogawale on 3 July “did not contain any words which would indicate that the said whip, if not followed, would result in disqualification."