Sena Battle Returns To Court: Eknath Shinde Faction Moves Bombay HC After Uddhav Thackeray Approaches SC

Sena Vs Sena Row:  Days after the Sena vs Sena verdict, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiva Sena approached the Bombay High Court against the Maharashtra assembly Speaker's decision to 'not disqualify the Uddhav Thackeray faction MLAs. This comes following an announcement by the Uddhav faction to move the Supreme Court to challenge Speaker Rahul Narwekar's verdict on the cross-petitions filed by the two rival blocs. The cross-petitions filed by the Shinde and Uddhav factions of Shiv Sena had sought the disqualification of each other's MLAs.

According to news agency PTI, the chief whip of the ruling Shiv Sena, Bharat Gogavale, filed petitions on January 12 against the speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to dismiss his pleas seeking the disqualification of the 14 MLAs of Shiv Sena (UBT) faction. The petitions challenged the "legality, propriety and correctness" of the January 10 order passed by the Speaker.

Also Read: AAP, Congress Join Hands To Contest Chandigarh Mayor Elections On Jan 18

Gogavale, through his petitions, submitted that the rival faction's MLAs not only violated the whip but also willingly gave up the party's membership by their acts and omissions in the assembly following the split in June 2022. The plea argued that the Speaker failed to recognise that, besides giving up their membership, members of Sena-UBT also voted against the Shiv Sena-led government in cahoots with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), thereby attempting to topple the government.

The High Court is slated to hear the petitions on January 22.

Also Read: Uddhav Thackeray Approaches SC Challenging Maharashtra Speaker's 'Real Shiv Sena' Verdict

Meanwhile, the Thackeray faction also lodged a plea in the Supreme Court on Monday, challenging the Speaker's decision that recognised Chief Minister Shinde's Shiv Sena as the legitimate 'Shiv Sena' following the June 2022 split. The Speaker, who dismissed the Thackeray faction's request to disqualify 16 MLAs from the ruling camp, including Shinde, is at the centre of the legal dispute.