Uddav Thackeray moves Supreme Court challenging speaker Narwekar’s “real Shiv Sena” directive

The Shiv Sena faction led by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision of assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar who recognized the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena. In addition, the Maharashtra speaker turned down the plea from Uddhav's faction, which sought the disqualification of 16 legislators associated with the Shinde camp.

On January 10, Narwekar declared the Shinde faction as the authentic Shiv Sena following the party's split in 2022. The speaker also asserted that Thackeray lacked the authority to oust Shinde, the current chief minister, from the position of the legislature party leader, as per the Shiv Sena constitution. Furthermore, the speaker stated that party leadership cannot use the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) to suppress dissent or indiscipline within the party.

The Speaker further stated that when the Shiv Sena split in June 2022, the Eknath Shinde group garnered backing from 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs and in early 2023, the Election Commission granted the Shinde-led faction the use of the 'Shiv Sena' name and the 'bow and arrow' symbol.

“I think the Assembly Speaker did not understand the mandate -- what he was asked to do. It was a simple case of disqualification. The Supreme Court laid down a framework but the Speaker thought he was above the Supreme Court and came up with his own court and verdict,” asserted Thackeray stating that the speaker's actions were an insult to the Supreme Court and claimed that the speaker failed to understand the court's directive.