Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, Aug 3: The Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed the hearing of the Shiv Sena’s appeals till August 4 amid the dispute between Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde.
The Thackeray side challenged the election of the Speaker and the new government, while Shinde and the rebel MLAs were the first to file the petition to the Supreme Court against the Deputy Speaker’s disqualification notice.
A SC bench comprising CJI NV Ramana, Justices Krishna Murari and Hima Kohli heard detailed arguments from the lawyers for both sides during today’s session.
In response to a Supreme Court inquiry into what would happen if two-thirds of the party’s MLAs left, Team Thackeray claimed that under such circumstances, the Shiv Sensa factions would either need to combine or form a new political party in order to comply with the law.
“They (Team Shinde) have to register with the EC (Election Commission) if they form a new party, but no registration if they merge into another party. But the issue is also of balance. 1/3rd are still remaining in the party. The 2/3rd cannot say that ‘we are the party’,” said the Thackeray team.
“Rebel MLAs were sitting in Guwahati and declaring themselves to be the political party. Their purpose is to legitimize defections. Every act that they have committed is a violation of rules. The government made in Maharashtra is illegal, so all decisions taken by it will also be illegal. Hence, the urgency in the matter for a resolution,” they added.
Team Shinde said that this law is not for a leader who has lost the confidence of his own party members and wants to somehow lock them in and hang on to power when Team Thackeray questioned whether the anti-defection statute is even applicable anymore or is it just something that is on paper.
