Picture : Twitter/ ANI
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear on September 27, an application of Uddhav Thackeray-led faction seeking to restrain the Election Commission from deciding on the claim of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led group over the “original” Shiv Sena party.
As per report by PTI, The bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud said it will pass directions indicating the timeline for hearing all other issues emanating from a batch of petitions filed by both the sides related to power of speaker/deputy speaker and governor in relation to the political crisis which had happened in Maharashtra few months back.
The bench was hearing pending cases related to the crisis that led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.
As the matter was taken up for hearing, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, appearing for the Shinde faction, told the bench also comprising Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha that the opposite side has filed an intervention application in their matter seeking to restrain the poll panel from taking any decision.
He said the Election Commission of India (ECI) cannot be prevented from taking any decision and earlier, the top court had refused to stay the proceeding before the poll panel.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Uddhav Thackeray faction, said on August 3, a top court bench had orally asked the ECI to not take any precipitative action.
Senior advocate Arvind Datar, appearing for the ECI, said it is a process that when there is a complaint under symbols order, the poll panel has no option but to issue notice to the other side.
“Here in this case also, we have issued the notice to the other side”, he said, adding that the records are bulky and it would be appropriate if the proceedings continue.
Datar said even if the legislators are disqualified, they will still remain members of the party. Sibal said disqualification is attracted under the 10th schedule if the legislator voluntarily gives up the membership of the party and not the legislature. Justice Shah asked the counsel to reserve their energy for hearing on September 27.
