MLAs disqualification: Shiv Sena leader seeks urgent hearing of pleas challenging Speaker's order

Mumbai, Jul 26 (PTI) A Shiv Sena leader has approached the Bombay High Court seeking an urgent hearing on his pleas challenging Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar's order to not disqualify 14 MLAs belonging to the rival faction led by Uddhav Thackeray.

Shiv Sena leader Bharatshet Gogavale on Thursday pleaded before the division bench of Justices A S Chandurkar and Rajesh Patil for an urgent hearing on the petitions he filed in January.

The bench has posted the matter for hearing on August 6.

Gogavale, the chief whip of Shinde's Shiv Sena party, filed petitions on January 12, challenging the "legality, propriety and correctness" of the January 10 order passed by Narwekar, dismissing his disqualification petitions against the 14 MLAs of the Shiv Sena (UBT).

He sought the court to declare the Speaker's order as bad in law, quash it, and disqualify the 14 MLAs.

In the petitions, Gogavale said on July 3, 2022, he had issued a whip to all Shiv Sena members to vote in favour of the government during the confidence motion in the Assembly.

However, the 14 MLAs violated the whip and also voluntarily gave up the membership of the "Shiv Sena Political Party by their acts and omissions", he said.

Gogavale claimed the Speaker had failed to consider that apart from giving up the membership, the members voted against the Shiv Sena government in cahoots with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to destabilise the ruling dispensation.

The Speaker had also rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling camp, including Shinde.

The petitions stated that since the Speaker, in his order, has held that Eknath Shinde represents the real Shiv Sena and Gogavale was the legally appointed chief whip of the party, he ought to have disqualified the 14 UBT MLAs for their actions against the party.

The members of the Sena (UBT) voted contrary to the whip issued by Gogavale, and this was part of the record of the Assembly, and hence, in no manner can be said to be a mere allegation, the pleas said. PTI AVI ARU