21 February,2024 10:05 AM IST | Mumbai | mid-day online correspondent
Supreme Court/ File pic
Shiv Sena (UBT) national spokesperson Anand Dubey has petitioned the Supreme Court and the Chief Justice of India to intervene in Maharashtra's present political crisis, citing the recent ruling in the Chandigarh Mayoral polls as an example of justice that should be duplicated throughout the state.
Dubey expressed unhappiness with the Maharashtra Assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar's recent ruling in Sena split case and he alleged that he is prejudiced against Uddhav faction, reported ANI.
The news agency report quoted Dubey as saying, "You are well aware of how our party, the Shiv Sena, was broken, the whole country is a witness to it. The Maharashtra Assembly speaker too did not give a fair decision."
Per the ANI report, drawing parallels to the Supreme Court's ruling in the Chandigarh mayor elections, which rendered previously rejected votes legal, Dubey sought the court to direct Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to recognise the Uddhav group as the true Shiv Sena. He emphasised the faction's commitment to the party's symbol, the bow and arrow.
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"A decision was given by you in the Chandigarh mayor polls, in which the 8 votes that were made invalidated, were made valid. In the same way please direct the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar and tell him that our party, the (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) faction, is the real Shiv Sena, our party's symbol is bow and arrow," Dubey told the top court.
Furthermore, Dubey requested punitive action against Speaker Narvekar for what he saw as an unjust verdict in favour of the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
The political issue in Maharashtra arose from a rift in the Shiv Sena in June 2022. Last month, Speaker Narwekar deemed Shinde's group to be the genuine Shiv Sena, citing inconsistencies in the party's leadership structure provided to the Election Commission.
Narwekar, in his verdict, said, "In my view, the 2018 leadership structure (submitted with ECI) was not as per the Shiv Sena Constitution. Shiv Sena party chief, as per the party constitution, cannot remove anyone from the party...Uddhav Thackeray removed Eknath Shinde or any party leader from the party as per the party constitution. So the removal of Eknath Shinde by Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 is not accepted based on the Shiv Sena Constitution."
In a separate judgement, the Speaker affirmed Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as the genuine entity, taking into account the parliamentary majority and dismissing disqualification petitions filed by MLAs.
