A High Court judge is set to continue hearing a plea challenging the election of Shinde Sena MP, a development that’s part of the ongoing rift between the Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray factions of the Shiv Sena party. This rift led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Agadhi Government in Maharashtra, a coalition of the Shiv Sena, Indian National Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party ¹.

The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker, Rahul Narwekar, had earlier refused to disqualify any members from both factions, stating that the Shinde faction was the ‘real’ Shiv Sena since they had a legislative majority when the rival factions emerged in June 2022 ¹ ². The Speaker also recognized the whip appointed by Shinde as the official whip of the Shiv Sena party and held that there was no violation of the whip by the Shinde group MLAs.

The Uddhav Thackeray faction challenged this decision in the Supreme Court, which then issued a notice seeking the Speaker’s decision on the disqualification pleas against rebel Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde ³. However, the Speaker’s decision was made in January 2024, where he recognized the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and refused to disqualify any members from both factions.

The hearing is expected to address the maintainability of the plea and the legitimacy of Shinde’s election. The Supreme Court had earlier expressed strong dissatisfaction at the Speaker’s delay in adjudicating the petitions under the tenth schedule of the Constitution ¹.

The case’s outcome will have significant implications for the political landscape of Maharashtra, particularly for the Shiv Sena party and its rival factions.