Supreme Court pulls up Maharashtra governor over floor test order in Shiv Sena vs Shiv Sena row

In a blow to the Thackeray bloc, the Election Commission had earlier this year declared the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the bow and arrow symbol of the party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray.

The Supreme Court on Thursday (May 11) while pronouncing its verdict on a batch of cross-petitions filed by Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Chief Minister M Eknath Shinde factions on Maharashtra political crisis said that it holds that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal.

"Supreme Court holds that the Speaker's decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale (backed by Shinde group) as the whip of the Shiv Sena party was illegal," the Supreme Court said.

"The Maharashtra speaker was aware of the emergence of two factions in the legislative party on 3 July 2022 when he appointed a new whip," the Supreme Court observed.

"In November 2019, Shiv Sena MLAs unanimously resolved to appoint Uddhav Thackeray as the party leader and Eknath Shinde as the group leader," the top court said.

"To hold that it is the legislative party which appoints the whip will mean severance of the umbilical chord with the political party. It means group of MLAs can disconnect from the political party," the CJI said.

On March 16, the top court had reserved its verdict on the pleas at the conclusion of lengthy arguments from both sides that went on for nine days starting February 21.

On the last day of hearing, the top court had wondered as to how it can reinstate the Uddhav Thackeray government when the chief minister had put in his papers even before facing the floor test, after the faction led by him pitched for setting aside the governor's June 2022 order to the CM for a trial of strength in the House.

The Thackeray faction made vehement submissions before the court urging it to "turn back the clock" and restore the "status quo ante" (previously existing state of affairs) as it had done in 2016 when it reinstalled Nabam Tuki as the chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh.

On February 17, the top court had declined to refer a batch of pleas related to the Maharashtra political crisis triggered by a split in the Shiv Sena to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration of the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgement on Arunachal Pradesh.

The 2016 judgement dealt with powers of the assembly speaker and ruled that he/she cannot proceed with pleas for disqualification of MLAs if a prior notice seeking the speaker's removal is pending before the House.

On June 29, 2022, at the height of the Maharashtra turmoil, the apex court had refused to stay the governor's direction to the 31-month-old MVA government led by Thackeray to take a floor test.

Sensing defeat, Thackeray resigned, catapulting to power a Shiv Sena-BJP dispensation led by Shinde.

On August 23, 2022, a three-judge bench of the top court headed by then chief justice N V Ramana had formulated several questions of law and referred to the five-judge bench petitions filed by the two Sena factions which raised several constitutional questions related to defection, merger and disqualification.

In a blow to the Thackeray bloc, the Election Commission had earlier this year declared the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the bow and arrow symbol of the party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray.