The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on Tuesday a plea filed by Shiv Sena-UBT leader Sunil Prabhu, challenging Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s ruling that declared Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction as the “real” Shiv Sena.
In January, a bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud, along with Justices J.B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, issued a notice to Chief Minister Shinde and 38 other MLAs from his camp, seeking their response to the petition.
The faction led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray petitioned the court against Narwekar’s January 10 ruling, which recognised the Shinde group as the legitimate Shiv Sena due to its majority in the legislature and National Executive.
The plea also challenges the dismissal of disqualification petitions against Shinde and other MLAs in his camp.
Meanwhile, Shinde and his MLAs have requested the Supreme Court to send Shiv Sena-UBT’s petition to the Bombay High Court for further adjudication.
Earlier, the Bombay High Court issued notices to 14 Shiv Sena-UBT MLAs and others in a petition filed by Bharat Gogavale, Chief Whip of the ruling Shiv Sena, seeking disqualification of legislators from Thackeray’s faction.
Speaker Narwekar’s January 10 ruling dismissed cross-petitions from both factions, preventing the disqualification of Thackeray’s legislators.
The Supreme Court is also set to hear a similar plea on Tuesday from Sharad Pawar group leader Jayant Patil, who is seeking the disqualification of Ajit Pawar faction MLAs for defecting and joining the Shiv Sena-BJP government.
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