Disqualification Of E Shinde, 15 MLAs Not Inevitable: Maharashtra Speaker

The Supreme Court might have said a political party appoints the whip, but has not said which faction of the Shiv Sena comprises the political party, argued Rahul Narwekar, the Speaker of Maharashtra assembly this evening. The decision on whether the Chief Minister and 15 MLAs they will be disqualified or not, will ultimately boil down to whether Uddhav Thackeray or Eknath Shinde represents the real Shiv Sena, he indicated.

Earlier today, the top court said it cannot disqualify Mr Shinde and 15 other MLAs for revolting against then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in June last year. That power, it said, will rest with the Speaker until a larger panel of judges take a call on it. But the court made it clear that Mr Narwekar had erred in recognising the whip. It also tasked him with taking a call on the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs including Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Asked about the Thackeray faction's argument that the Speaker's failure to recognise the whip now has to be rectified and the rebel MLAs disqualified, Mr Narwekar disagreed. "If it was so simple, the court would not have asked me to get into the issue of who was in charge of the political party," he told NDTV.

In July last year, Mr Narwekar, as the newly elected Speaker, had appointed Bharat Gogawale of the Eknath Shinde faction as the whip, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belonged to the Thackeray faction.

Mr Gogawale's appointment as the whip has been held bad in law because he was appointed by the legislature party, Mr Narwekar said today.

"Now that the court has said you need to decide on the basis of the political party, the court has never said that the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray is the political party which actually represents the Shiv Sena or it is the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde the actual Shiv Sena. I am yet to decide that. The court has never said that a particular faction is the real Shiv Sena," he added.

He said he would take a decision on disqualification as soon as possible, but "won't hurry to deny justice and will look at facts" of June and July 2022.

"I don't agree that disqualification of Shinde and 15 MLAs is now inevitable… Won't allow any miscarriage of justice," he added.

All Mr Narwekar's decisions though, can be called into question once the seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court takes a call on the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment. The judgment deals with powers of assembly speakers to decide on disqualification pleas.

In its judgment, the court had decided that an assembly speaker cannot proceed with a plea for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking his removal is pending before the House. The judgment had helped the faction led by Mr Shinde, allowing the rebel MLAs to remain in the assembly.