Shiv Sena disqualification plea: Numbers are in our favour, says Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde on eve of Speaker's ruling

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Tuesday said numbers were stacked in favour of the Shiv Sena led by him as assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar is set to give ruling on Shiv Sena disqualification pleas filed by the two warring Sena factions on January 10, Wednesday.

Even the Election Commission has recognised that the majority of Shiv Sena lawmakers were with his faction, Shinde told reporters in Mumbai.

"Numbers are important in democracy. We have a majority in the assembly and Lok Sabha. The Election Commission has allotted the official name and symbol to our party. I am confident and I hope that the decision would be based on merit," he said.

In June 2022, Shinde and dozens of other Shiv Sena MLAs rebelled against then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, leading to a split in the Sena and fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition government. The Thackeray and Shinde factions then filed petitions against each other's legislators, seeking disqualification under the anti-defection law.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his party has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court objecting to a meeting between Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar before the crucial verdict on Shiv Sena disqualification pleas.

"If the judge (Narwekar) is going to meet the accused, what should we expect from that judge," Thackeray asked, speaking to the media at his residence 'Matoshree' here.

The affidavit before the SC was filed on Monday, a day after the meeting, he said.

Thackeray's ally and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) founder Sharad Pawar, too, said that when someone who is hearing a case meets the person against whom the case is being heard, it "leaves room for doubt".

Hitting back, Narwekar said Thackeray, a former chief minister, should know for what purposes a speaker could meet a chief minister.

"If he still levels such allegations, then his motive is very clear. There is no rule that a speaker, while hearing disqualification pleas, cannot do any other work," Narwekar said, alluding to Thackeray trying to pressurize him ahead of the ruling on Shiv Sena disqualification pleas.

The speaker met Shinde at 'Varsha', the chief minister's official residence in south Mumbai on Sunday. Thackeray noted the two had met in October last year, too.

Narwekar's ruling will decide whether "democracy exists in the country or not" or whether the two (speaker and chief minister) will "murder" democracy, he said.

"We have filed an affidavit asking whether there is collusion between the judge and the accused," Thackeray said, asking whether there would be further delay by the speaker in giving the ruling.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) president said the speaker never goes to meet the chief minister, asserting it is the former who summons the latter. (With inputs from agencies)