Observing that the sanctity of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution should be maintained, the Supreme Court on Monday directed Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar to decide the cross-petitions filed by the rival factions of the Shiv Sena seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs by December 31.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the matter is listed for hearing after advocate Amit Anand Tiwari sought urgent listing of the plea.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday described the Election Commission's decision to recognise his faction as the real Shiv Sena victory of truth and people.
Deepak Kesarkar, a Sena MLA and spokesperson for the rebel faction headed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, sought to know what Pawar gained by causing pain to Bal Thackeray.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray criticizes Devendra Fadnavis, accusing him of being a 'helpless' chief minister unable to tackle corruption. He also attacks the BJP for divisive politics and failing to address key issues.
The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance secured a majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning 118 out of 227 seats and ending the Thackeray family's long-standing control.
At this point at 85, Sharad Pawar is like a mature but ageing trapeze artist who is assessing if he will still land on his feet if he jumps from the safe perch of INDIA to the NDA. Can a Great Betrayal be presented as a tactical move? Watch Sharad Pawar do it, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
He also said that all political parties need to ask the poll watchdog the definition of a political party.
The Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has issued a whip to "all" its legislators to remain present full-time during the budget session of the Maharashtra legislature which began on Monday, in an apparent move to corner the faction headed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray.
The top court said it would tag the fresh plea and hear it together with pending ones on August 1.
The Supreme Court said on Thursday that once a government is democratically elected in accordance with law, there is a presumption that it enjoys the confidence of the house and there must exist some objective material to dislodge this presumption.
The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its verdict on the issue whether pleas related to the June 2022 Maharashtra political crisis triggered by the Shiv Sena's division be referred to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment.
State industries minister Uday Samant and party leader Ramdas Kadam gave information about the resolutions passed in the meeting.
Both the Shiv Senas - one of Maharashtra Chief minister Eknath Shinde and the other of Uddhav Thackeray - marked their foundation day on Monday, with attack on each other.
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali, party leader Sanjay Raut said.
Amid renewed speculation about political realignments and a potential merger, senior leaders from two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule clarified her party's position on the proposed Delimitation Bill, stating that while a uniform 50 per cent increase in seats across states would be hard to oppose, any final decision would be made after discussions within the INDIA bloc.
The Sena now has four cabinet ministers, including CM Uddhav Thackeray, Aaditya Thackeray, Anil Parab, and Subhash Desai. Barring Aaditya, the rest three are MLCs.
The Election Commission is learnt to have given the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena 15 more days to submit documents in support of its claim on the party's election symbol.
Facing a massive rebellion of MLAs and MPs after its defeat in the West Bengal assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has begun an organisational reset, with sources saying the focus is on top leaders increasing direct engagement with workers and reducing dependence on political-consultancy firm I-PAC.
The police have arrested Shiv Sena's Pune city unit president, an office-bearer from Hingoli and four others in connection with an alleged attack on rebel MLA and former Maharashtra minister Uday Samant's car in Pune, an official said on Wednesday.
Chandrakant Patil also took a swipe at Uddhav for accusing Eknath Shinde of stealing the legacy of Bal Thackeray.
There are strong possibilities of some Union ministers being sent to take organisational roles in the BJP and party office-bearers being inducted into the Modi ministry.
Most Shiv Sena ministers in Maharashtra's BJP-led government were absent from a cabinet meeting, signaling tensions over defections between the parties. Only Deputy CM Eknath Shinde attended. Sena ministers later met with the Chief Minister to express their displeasure.
The rebel Shiv Sena group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party will contest the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation elections in alliance, a rebel faction functionary said on Thursday.
Founded in 1966 by Bal Thackeray, the Shiv Sena in its more than five decades long journey has allied with the Congress, formally and informally.
Khotkar, who is from Jalna district, was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis-led government that was in power between 2014-19.
Counting of votes has begun in the Maharashtra municipal corporation elections, with a focus on the Mumbai battle between the BJP-led alliance and the Thackeray factions.
Besides late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and former prime minister Indira Gandhi, NCP president Sharad Pawar also figured in the posters.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Eknath Shinde-led faction if its move to go against the Shiv Sena party's wish to continue with the coalition in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) amounted to indiscipline leading to disqualification.
This is for the first time that the Thackeray family has lost control of the party that was founded in 1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray on the principles of justice for the sons of the soil.
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.
The Election Commission of India has told the Supreme Court it passed a "well-reasoned" order recognising the Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotting to it the original 'bow and arrow' symbol in its quasi-judicial capacity.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
Pawar said no one gave such a proposal to the Nationalist Congress Party.
Senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil has ruled out the possibility of a merger between the two factions of the Nationalist Congress Party, stating that talks ceased following the death of Ajit Pawar.
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.
The Election Commission on Friday recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and ordered allocation of the "bow and arrow" poll symbol to it.
The talks about the reunification had already started when Ajit Pawar was alive. In fact, the two parties even contested the civic polls in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad together.
All eyes are now on the Sena factions, led by CM Shinde, backed by the BJP, and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, and their performance in the coastal belt in the November 20 polls.
The case of the two Shiv Sena factions for legitimacy and the party symbol, 'Bow and Arrow', is now before the Election Commission. Whichever way the EC findings go, the other can be expected to move the Supreme Court. They would need a final verdict before the parliamentary polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
