The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of the Shiv Sena urged the Supreme Court on Tuesday to refer the cases related to the Maharashtra political crisis to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of a 2016 judgment on powers of assembly speakers to deal with disqualification pleas.
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of the Tamil Nadu law allowing bull-taming sport "jallikattu" in the state.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana said it would take a call by Monday on referring the matters related to the recent Maharashtra political crisis to a Constitution Bench.
If a local court in Mumbai allows former Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and minister Nawab Malik to cast their votes in the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections, the two leaders will be brought to the Vidhan Bhavan, the state legislature complex in Mumbai, at a specific time to take part in the voting process, an official said on Wednesday.
Their flight landed at the Mumbai airport around 8 pm nearly 50 minutes after it took off from Dabolim airport in Goa.
Governors must be impartial, fair, and above narrow politics to uphold the values and spirit of the Constitution. But in a rapidly changing political culture where the unstated rule is to crush the Opposition, such values have no meaning. At stake are Constitutional values, federalism and governance, asserts Ramesh Menon.
What provoked Ashok Gehlot's belligerence was Sachin Pilot's participation in the Bharat Jodo Yatra with Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi in Madhya Pradesh. Gehlot was also aware that Rajasthan assembly Speaker C P Joshi had met Rahul in Maharashtra.
Battling the political crisis faced by the party-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has filed a petition before the Deputy Speaker of the state assembly seeking the cancellation of membership of 12 rebel MLAs including Eknath Shinde for 'not attending' legislative party meeting held on Wednesday.
Additional sessions judge R B Rote also held that the custodial interrogation of Nitesh Rane, the son of Union minister Narayan Rane, was necessary as police probe into the matter was 'incomplete.'
The Bombay high court on Friday rejected Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Nawab Malik's petition seeking release from jail in Mumbai to enable him to cast his vote in the Rajya Sabha elections, polling for which is underway.
Maharashtra Speaker Nana Patole on Tuesday said he has asked the state legislature to frame a law to give voters the option of using ballot papers besides electronic voting machines (EVMs) in the local governing bodies' and state assembly polls.
Opposition leaders on Saturday stepped up pressure on Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for stringent action against Bharatiya Janata Party's Ramesh Bidhuri over his derogatory remarks against Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali in the House.
Maharashtra will witness a triangular contest for the post of the Speaker of Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Shiv Sena and the Congress putting up candidates. Haribhau Bagde of the BJP, Vijay Auti of Shiv Sena and Varsha Gaikwad of the Congress have filed nominations for the post. The deadline for withdrawal is 10 am on Wednesday.
Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar has asked his party workers to be prepared for snap polls in Maharashtra considering the political situation after the recent state Assembly elections.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
The office of Neelam Gorhe, deputy chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, has sought more details with regard to a letter by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde seeking the appointment of Viplove Bajoria as Shiv Sena whip in the Upper House, effectively giving a temporary breather to the Thackeray camp.
The Supreme Court Tuesday said suspension from legislative assembly for one year should be linked with some purpose and there has to be an 'overpowering' reason that the member should not be allowed to even attend the next session.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed the Election Commission to go ahead with the hearing of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde group's plea seeking recognition as the real Shiv Sena and allocation of the party's bow-and-arrow poll symbol to it.
He also demanded mid-term elections in Maharashtra, saying that people should be allowed to take a stand on toppling of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by him.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on Monday passed a resolution urging the Centre to provide the 2011 census data to enable the State Backward Class Commission to prepare an empirical data of the OBC population, in a bid to restore political reservations for its members in local bodies.
Gehlot told Congress MLAs that they will be asked to come to New Delhi if he decides to file his nomination.
With the Sena now joining the government, Mr Fadnavis can hope for an easier time during the winter session of the Assembly, beginning in Nagpur on December 8. The government will have a clear majority of 184 in a House of 288. The BJP has 121 MLAs, 43 short of a majority. The Shiv Sena 63.
Narvekar, who polled 164 votes, defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi who got 107 votes.
The top court, which refused to pass any interim stay order on the quota, said chances of physical court seem remote due to the persisting COVID-19 pandemic. A bench of Justices L N Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhatt asked the parties said that all parties should sit together and decide on modalities of hearing like who will take how much time and no one shall repeat the arguments.
The Shiv Sena on Monday said it was not surprising to see the Bharatiya Janata Party winning the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker's election as the Sena was broken and 'someone from the party' was pitted against it.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear on September 27 an application by the 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.
On the day the Maharashtra legislature passed the much-awaited anti-superstition bill, Thane district police arrested six men for murdering a 50-year-old woman in a ritual human sacrifice.
After the Shiv Sena's division in Maharashtra assembly, its parliamentary party was also staring at a split with several MPs set to petition Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to recognise them as a separate group.
'The central BJP leaders were determined to push Hindutva hard, and it failed.'
He, however, said if at all the party rebels want to return, the doors of 'Matoshree' (the personal residence of Thackerays) are always open for them.
In a statement after the apex court verdict, Thackeray said, "With folded hands, we request the prime minister and the president to take an immediate decision on Maratha quota."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the new Parliament building Sunday morning and installed the scared 'Sengol' in the Lok Sabha chamber, right next to the Speaker's chair, after performing a puja.
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
The draft bill seeks to amend relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act for the proposed law's application in the state.
Congress legislature party leader said the MVA is on a stronger wicket legally.
Conveying good wishes to people of the state and all political parties for the New Year, he however wished that the Congress comes to power.
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
Sena has challenged the Governor's June 30 decision to invite a coalition of the Shinde faction and the BJP to form government in Maharashtra.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Sunday said he would build new leadership in the party and asserted he gets more energy to work when such situations come up.
The meeting came amid rumours that Shiv Sena is considering a patch-up with the Baratiya Janata Party, its ally of 35 years.
