The Supreme Court to hear a petition by the Shiv Sena-Uddhav faction challenging the Maharashtra Speaker's refusal to disqualify MLAs of the Eknath Shinde group in the second week of April. The SC has also asked the respondents to file the reply on or before April 1.
A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra sent for the original documents after the Shinde faction alleged forgery in the records by the Thackeray camp. The top court, which had issued notice on the Thackeray group's petition, asked Shinde and his MLAs to file a response positively on or before April 1, and listed the plea for final hearing on April 8. The bench said it was keeping the issue of maintainability of the petition open.
On January 22, the top court had sought responses from the chief minister and other lawmakers of his group on the plea. The Thackeray faction, in its petition filed through MLA Sunil Prabhu, has alleged that Shinde "unconstitutionally usurped power" and is heading an "unconstitutional government". The Shinde group had the support of 37 out of the total 54 Sena MLAs when the party split in June 2022, the speaker had noted. The Election Commission had given the 'Shiv Sena' name and 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Shinde faction in early 2023.
