The Bombay High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar and 10 MLAs belonging to Sharad Pawar’s NCP faction, concerning petitions challenging the Speaker’s decision not to disqualify them.
Anil Patil, the chief whip of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) under the leadership of Ajit Pawar, lodged two petitions challenging the Speaker’s decision not to disqualify 10 MLAs from the Sharad Pawar camp.
A division bench of Justices G S Kulkarni and Firdosh Pooniwalla also issued notices to the Maharashtra legislature secretariat and directed all respondents to submit their affidavits for the petitions. The Court scheduled further hearings on March 14, 2024. In his petitions, Patil urged the high court to invalidate the speaker’s recent order, deeming it legally flawed, and to disqualify all 10 legislators.
The petitions challenged the “legality, propriety, and correctness” of the order issued by Narwekar, dismissing the disqualification petitions against the MLAs aligned with the Sharad Pawar faction.
During the proceedings, Patil’s counsel Mukul Rohatgi informed the court that the speaker’s main findings favored Ajit Pawar, except for the decision not to disqualify the 10 MLAs.
Rohatgi stated, “The speaker ruled in favor of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, even the Election Commission supported Ajit Pawar. However, the 10 MLAs (from Sharad Pawar’s faction) were not disqualified.”
The senior counsel argued that the actions of the 10 MLAs were against the party’s interests and thus warranted disqualification.
“The speaker incorrectly concluded that this was merely an internal party dispute. However, this is not merely an internal disagreement,” Rohatgi emphasized.
After brief arguments, the bench announced it would issue notices to the respondents and request affidavits before further proceedings.
Last week, Narwekar determined that the faction led by Ajit Pawar is the authentic NCP but refrained from disqualifying MLAs from either faction.
Patil, in his petitions, asserted that the speaker erroneously labeled the split in the NCP as intra-party dissent. He contended that if the NCP led by Ajit Pawar is recognized as the genuine political party, then the disqualification petitions should have been upheld.
Ajit Pawar and his uncle Sharad Pawar have been embroiled in a power struggle since Ajit and eight MLAs joined the Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra government in July 2023.
The factions have primarily clashed over two issues: party ownership and whether MLAs from the opposing faction should be subject to disqualification under Section 2(1)(A) of the Tenth Schedule.
On February 7, the Election Commission resolved the dispute in Ajit Pawar’s favor, endorsing the faction led by him as the “real NCP” and assigning it the party’s ‘clock’ symbol.
Subsequently, the EC granted the name ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ to the group led by Sharad Pawar.
On February 15, Narwekar ruled that the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar was the legitimate NCP and that constitutional anti-defection provisions cannot be employed to suppress internal dissent.
On Monday, the Supreme Court directed that the EC’s order granting the name ‘Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar’ for the group led by Sharad Pawar will remain in effect until further notice.