The News Freedom
Mumbai, January 10
In a major setback to Uddhav Thackeray, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar affirmed Eknath Shinde’s faction as the ” real Shiv Sena” on Wednesday, dismissing Thackeray’s bid to disqualify 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde. Narwekar rejected disqualification pleas from both sides, noting the shift in the whip from Sunil Prabhu to Bharat Gogawale in the Shinde group. “All disqualification petitions are dismissed. No MLA faces disqualification,” Narwekar stated. The ruling solidifies Shinde’s position, marking 18 months since his rebellion. Narwekar clarified that the 2018 leadership structure doesn’t align with the 1999 Shiv Sena constitution, underscoring its inadequacy to define the genuine Shiv Sena faction.
Narwekar, the Assembly Speaker, emphasized that the 10th schedule of the Constitution, governing anti-defection laws, couldn’t be applied for internal party dissent or indiscipline. He highlighted that the 2018 leadership structure didn’t align with Shiv Sena’s constitution, disqualifying it as the yardstick to identify the genuine Shiv Sena faction. Despite indications of no elections in 2013 and 2018, Narwekar, limited by ECI records, considered the February 27, 2018, leadership structure from the ECI website as pivotal. He stressed the ECI-provided Shiv Sena constitution’s relevance in determining the actual political faction. Addressing the media, Narwekar affirmed citizens’ rights to approach courts but cautioned against baseless challenges to the Speaker’s order. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde hailed the decision as a win for constitutional democracy, rejecting party autocracy. In contrast, former CM Uddhav Thackeray criticized the Speaker’s ruling as anti-democratic, pledging to escalate the battle to the Supreme Court.