Eknath Shinde came on Uddhav’s target as soon as Ajit rebelled, gave a writ in SC and said – tell the speaker to decide on disqualification soon

Uddhav Thackeray’s faction has reached the Supreme Court amidst the political turmoil in Maharashtra. A writ filed by Uddhav camp MP Sunil Prabhu has said that the Supreme Court should ask the Speaker of Maharashtra to give an early decision in the case seeking disqualification of Eknath Shinde and his supporting MLAs. Prabhu says that the speaker is unnecessarily hanging the matter.

Keep in mind that the Constitutional Bench of the Supreme Court had heard the matter of split in Shiv Sena. A bench headed by CJI DY Chandrachud refused to order the reinstatement of the Uddhav government, saying it could not do so as Uddhav had resigned without facing the floor test. The Supreme Court refused to hear the petition seeking disqualification of Eknath Shinde and the rebel MLAs with him. The CJI’s bench said that they do not think that there is a need to take action in this matter under Articles 226 and 32 of the Constitution. There does not appear to be any urgency at present to invoke the special provisions in this matter.

The Supreme Court had put the ball in the speaker’s court.

The Supreme Court put the ball in the court of the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and asked him to decide on the disqualification of Shinde and his supporting MLAs within a stipulated time. In its decision, the Supreme Court had termed the Speaker’s decision as wrong, under which the Speaker had declared the Shinde Group MLA as the Shiv Sena’s whip. The court said that it is the prerogative of the political party to appoint a whip.

The petition seeking disqualification of Shinde and his supporting MLAs has been filed on behalf of MP Sunil Prabhu. Uddhav made Prabhu the party whip on 23 June 2022 after the rebellion of the MLAs. The disqualification notice was issued by Deputy Speaker Narhari Jarwal in the Speaker’s absence.