The Supreme court on Monday refuses to entertain mentioning by Uddhav Sena for early listing of appeal against Election commission order recognizing Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction as real Shiv Sena and allotting ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to him.
The apex court asked the lawyer of Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena to mention it today. A bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud observed that the plea seeking an urgent hearing on the petition was not mentioned in the list.
“Mr Singhvi, you have to
come under the mentioning list. Come tomorrow. The rule is applicable to all”, the CJI said.
The case pertains to Uddhav Thackeray’s in Supreme Court against Election Commission›s move, saying the polling body «failed» to consider that his faction enjoys a majority in the Legislative Council and Rajya Sabha.
«The ECI has failed to consider that the petitioner enjoys a majority in the Legislative Council (12 out of 12) and Rajya Sabha (3 out of 3). It is submitted that in a case of this kind where there is a conflict even in the legislative majority i.e., Lok Sabha on one hand and Rajya Sabha on the other as well as Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, more particularly, having regard to the fact that there is a possibility of the alleged members losing their right of membership, the legislative majority alone is not a safe guide to determine as to who holds the majority for the purposes of adjudicating a petition of the Symbols Order,» the plea said.
In these circumstances, it is respectfully submitted that the legislative majority test cannot be the test which can be applied for the purposes of determination of the present dispute, the plea further said.
In his plea, Thackeray also submitted that the legislative majority alone could not be the basis for passing the order by EC.
Challenging the EC decision, Uddhav Thackeray said that the poll panel was erroneous in its decision and said that the entire edifice of the «impugned order» (EC›s decision) is based upon the purported legislative majority of Shinde which is an issue to be determined by the top court in the Constitution Bench.
Uddhav Thackeray said that ECI has erred in holding that there is a split in the political party and submitted «in the absence of any pleadings and evidence that there was a split in a political party, the finding of the ECI is completely erroneous on this ground.»
«The test of legislative majority adopted by the ECI could not have been applied at all in view of the fact that the disqualification proceedings were pending against the legislators supporting the Respondent. If in the disqualification proceedings, the legislators are held to be disqualified, there is no question of these legislators then forming a majority. Thus, the basis of the impugned order itself is constitutionally suspect,» ECI said.
