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Shiv Sena Symbol Controversy: This petition is against the decision of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker to allot the party’s ‘bow’ election symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction.
Shiv Sena symbol controversy: The Supreme Court on Wednesday fixed November 12 for hearing the petition of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena. This petition is against the decision of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker to allocate the party’s ‘bow’ election symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction. A bench of Justice Suryakant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi said that the hearing on the petition will start on November 12 and if needed, will continue on 13 November. On behalf of Shiv Sena-UBT, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that the local body elections are likely to be held in January next year. Therefore, there is a need for immediate hearing in this case. He said that the court may hold a final hearing of the case before the local body elections. The bench said that we will hear all the parties on November 12 and if needed, we can continue the hearing on 13 November.
The issue is pending for a long time
On behalf of Shinde faction, senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Neeraj Kishan Kaul appeared. On July 14, the apex court fixed the final hearing date of the case and said that the issue is pending for a long time. Uncertainty cannot be allowed to continue. The Uddhav faction had earlier said that the decision of the chairman’s decision to hand over the party’s election symbol to another faction on the basis of legislative majority in 2023 is contrary to the decision of the Constitution Bench of the apex court. On May 7, the apex court asked Uddhav Thackeray -led faction to focus on local body elections, as the party had demanded immediate hearing on its petition against the decision of the president. In January 2024, Speaker Rahul Narvekar dismissed the Shiv Sena-UBT plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp including Shinde. Challenging the orders passed by the speaker in the Supreme Court, the Uddhav Thackeray -led faction claimed that he was clearly illegal and instead of punishing the act of defections, he rewarded the defectors as a real political party.
Petition against Shinde’s decision
The petition claimed that the speaker made a mistake in assuming that the majority of the Shiv Sena MLAs represent the will of the Shiv Sena. In his judgment on disqualification petitions, the speaker did not disqualify any MLA related to rival camps. The speaker’s decision further strengthened Shinde’s position as the then Chief Minister after leading the rebellion against Thackeray and increased his political strength in the ruling coalition, including BJP and NCP (Ajit Pawar Group) before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and Maharashtra assembly elections. The party won 57 seats in the Maharashtra elections. While the BJP won 132 seats and the NCP led by Ajit Pawar got 41 seats. In December 2024, Devendra Fadnavis returned as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, while Shinde and Pawar became the Deputy Chief Ministers.
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