The Supreme Court on Tuesday, 27 September, rejected a plea by the Uddhav Thackeray camp, seeking to stop the Election Commission of India (ECI) from taking a decision in a plea by the Eknath Shinde faction to be recognised as the 'real' Shiv Sena and to use the 'bow and arrow' symbol of the party, reported Bar and Bench.
"We direct that there shall be no stay on proceedings before the election commission. Interim application seeking stay stands dismissed," a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha said.
The Thackeray group argued in its petition that the EC could not proceed in the matter till there was a decision on the disqualification of rebel MLAs in the apex court.
Following the verdict, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said the Election Commission of India will apply the transparent process of the "rule of majority" to recognise the "real" Shiv Sena.
The CEC said the poll body has a transparent process of the "rule of majority" in place and will apply the same when looking into the case.
"There is a set procedure... We will apply the 'rule of majority' whenever we are looking at it,"the CEC said when asked about the apex court's order.
Uddhav Thackeray Camp Plea
In its plea, the Thackeray camp argues that "the very status of the persons making a Petition before it (EC) as Members of the Legislative Assembly is currently indeterminate and said issue is itself pending before this Hon'ble Court, these persons cannot be considered MLAs of Shiv Sena and their claim or affidavits in this regard cannot be relied upon."
It further said that if the EC was allowed to go ahead with its proceeding to decide the 'real' Shiv Sena, it would not only precipitate issues of great Constitutional importance but would also cause irreparable injury to the applicant, reported Bar and Bench.
"Further such proceedings would also be in teeth of settled law that an inquiry into a matter which is sub judice before the Court amounts to interference with the judicial proceedings and thus, amounts to contempt of the court as has been held in a number of decisions of this Hon’ble Court and various High Courts," the Thackeray camp's plea added.
It also sought to make EC a party in the batch of petitions pertaining to the split in Shiv Sena and has stressed the importance for the poll body to stay its hand, especially since issues ranging from disqualification of MLAs from respective factions to the validity of Shinde's takeover are yet to be decided by the Supreme Court.
The plea was moved before the Supreme Court after the EC, in July, asked Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to submit documents to the body, proving that they enjoy a majority in the party.
The Shinde faction had written to the EC, claiming to have the support of 40 out 55 MLAs and 12 of 18 Lok Sabha MPs.
Background
Political turmoil gripped the state in June 2022 when the Shiv Sena split with more than two-thirds of the party's MLAs withdrawing their support from the Maharashtra government led by Thackeray and then siding with Shinde.
The fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was followed by Shinde being sworn in as the new Maharashtra CM on 30 June with the support of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
(With inputs from Bar and Bench.)
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