Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has termed Wednesday’s order by Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on the ‘real’ Shiv Sena as “weakening the anti-defection law”, “murder of democracy” and a “political fixed-game”.
Narwekar ruled in favour of the Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction, upheld the party’s whip and turned down demands to disqualify either faction’s MLAs.
Speaking to ThePrint, leaders from the rival Shiv Sena (UBT) asserted that the verdict was on expected grounds and the party would formulate a strategy to break down the order for voters in a way to build a sympathy wave before the general elections.
“This was an expected decision. In fact, the verdict has favoured us. We will go to the public and we will bounce back,” Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sushma Andhare told ThePrint.
Another senior Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said the party “will go out to the people and tell them what has happened”. Ultimately, it is the public which gives the final verdict in a democracy, the leader added.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, in a press conference after the verdict, also asserted that “we don’t accept this verdict and will appeal in the Supreme Court”.
“This is not the final verdict. It will not stand in the SC and definitely not in the people’s court.”
“If you don’t accept our party’s constitution from 2018, then why haven’t you (the Speaker) disqualified us?” he asked.
“People here know which is the real Shiv Sena,” Thackeray said at the press conference. “If they think they can confuse people before the elections, then they are wrong. People know who the real Shiv Sena is. The Shiv Sena can never be finished.”
Shinde had rebelled against Thackeray in June 2022 along with 39 other MLAs, causing a split in the party, and toppling the Maha Vikas Aghadi government comprising the undivided Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress.
The Shinde faction then joined the BJP to form a government with Shinde as the CM. The two Sena factions filed disqualification petitions against each other.
In his verdict, Narwekar declared the constitution of the Shiv Sena in 2018 as invalid.
Narwekar said the Shiv Sena (UBT) was relying on a supposedly amended 2018 constitution of the party, while the Shinde-led faction contended that the constitution of 1999 should be taken on record, as the new one was never submitted to the Election Commission.
“If both factions have submitted different constitutions, what should be taken into account is the constitution filed to the EC before the dispute arose… Prima facie, it is evident from records that the 1999 constitution was submitted to the EC by the Shiv Sena before rival factions emerged,” Narwekar opined.
Thackeray alleged that instead of strengthening the anti-defection law, the verdict instead weakened it.
His son and party MLA Aaditya Thackeray termed the verdict as “murder of democracy”. “We hope the Hon’ble Supreme Court will ensure that there will be protection for the Constitution and democracy against this disgraceful political fixed-game,” he told the media.
In the coming days, leaders of the Shiv Sena (UBT) plan to meet to formulate the next move on how to fight the battle in the apex court as well as on ground.
On Tuesday, a day before the verdict, the Shiv Sena (UBT) filed an affidavit in the SC objecting to alleged meetings between Narwekar, a BJP MLA, and Chief Minister Eknath Shinde at the latter’s official residence.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders have alleged misuse of power by the ruling BJP and said they would take this “injustice against them” to the people in poll campaign.
“The BJP is misusing power and money, and we are taking this to the public. Now they (the people) have to decide who is right and who is wrong, who is telling the truth and who is telling lies. When it is time for the elections, people will give us justice,” Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Anand Dubey told ThePrint.
Also Read: How Uddhav is rebuilding his Sena for 2024 after Shinde’s defection blow
How dispute unfolded
In February last year, the Election Commission recognised the Shinde camp to be the real Shiv Sena, and allotted the party’s “bow and arrow” symbol on the basis of its legislative strength.
In May, the Supreme Court put the ball in the Speaker’s court to decide on the disqualification petitions.
The Speaker largely applied three tests while deciding which is the real Shiv Sena — the party’s constitution, leadership structure, and legislative strength — and gave a ruling on the same basis as that used by the EC: which faction has the legislative strength.
Delivering his verdict on petitions filed against 54 MLAs of both factions of the Shiv Sena, Narwekar said: “Which faction is the real political party is clear from the legislative majority as of when the rival factions emerged.”
He determined 21 June 2022 to be the date of the split, and said that, according to the records available with the legislative secretariat, the Shinde faction had an overwhelming majority — 37 of 55 MLAs — at the time.
In dismissing the disqualification petitions of the two rival groups, the Speaker said the grounds cited by both sides were mere allegations, and that there was no clear evidence of a whip being served on MLAs in either faction.
Political analyst Abhay Deshpande told ThePrint that had the MLAs from Thackeray’s side got disqualified, then they would have got more sympathy.
“Nothing was unexpected but the only curiosity was which way the verdict would be delivered. This decision is based on the EC. If Thackeray’s MLAs had got disqualified, then they would have received a lot of public sympathy,” he said.
“But now, the party needs to see how much sympathy they can get. It also needs to see whether Thackeray can directly approach the SC or they will be referred to the high court since there is no need for immediate intervention.”
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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