Maharashtra: Both Sena camps confident of SC verdict in their favour

Ahead of the judgment in the Maharashtra political crisis that the Supreme Court is slated to pronounce on Thursday, rival Sena camps and their allies were confident of the verdict being in their favour. The Uddhav Thackeray faction said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his government would go, the Shinde group and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the CM would not resign and they would stay on together.

The petitions were filed by the Sena rival factions against each other last year. The Thackeray group had demanded disqualification of 16 MLAs, including Shinde, under the anti-defection law. The governor's call to conduct a floor test was also among other things challenged.

During one of the hearings early on Wednesday, Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said that the five-member constitutional bench was slated to pronounce two judgments. The apex court's registry and parties involved have confirmed that one of the cases to be decided on Thursday was about the Maharashtra crisis. The other was about the Union Government and Delhi Government. According to the listing for Thursday, the CJI will read the operative part of the judgment, after a verdict in the Delhi case is delivered.

There was split opinion on the verdict from the SC and its impact on the government and the rival Sena factions.

One popular understanding is that the CM would have to resign if he and other MLAs are disqualified and a new CM would have to be appointed. However, some experts said Shinde might take oath again after disqualification, and be in the position for six months - a maximum period prescribed for getting reelected to either House.

Also Read: Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde recalls how he missed the bus to join the Army

But, since disqualification would not allow him to contest the polls, President's rule would be imposed or early Assembly elections called.

Last July, the Shinde government got the support of 164 members, crossing the halfway mark of 145.

The House strength would decrease by 16 if disqualification happens, but it would also bring the majority mark down by the same number, thus not creating a serious scare during the trust vote of a new government, if any.

Reacting to the speculation, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said it was a foolish assumption. "Why would he [Shinde] resign before [or after] the verdict? What wrong has he done? I can tell you very astutely that Shinde will continue to be our CM and we will contest the next elections under his leadership."

The other understanding is that the matter, the disqualification in particular, will be referred to the Speaker, who might take his own time to decide it.

Deputy Speaker Narhari Zirwal, who was at the centre stage in the absence of the Speaker when power changed hands, contested this notion. He was confident that the MLAs, who he had served notices to then, would be disqualified by the apex court.

Speaker Rahul Narvekar, who assumed charge as presiding officer after the new government came in, differed, He said no other constitutional authority could deal with or decide matters that were supposed to be decided by the legislature and Speaker.

Shinde group's Sanjay Shirsat said their revolt was executed only after considering the legalities. "Our's is the legal government.

The fact is that if we are qualified, the MLAs, who are in the rival group would be disqualified [because of the disciplinary action notices that the Shinde group which has been recognised as the original Shiv Sena, has served them]."

Shiv Sena (UBT) spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the judgment will decide whether "democracy is alive or not" in the country. He said, "We are not predicting what the Supreme Court will say tomorrow but for democracy, tomorrow is important. We will also get to see if there is pressure on the judiciary or not." "Today, Pakistan is burning because there is no democracy alive there. The SC decision will tell us if democracy is alive in our country or not," he added.

Raut also slammed Speaker Narvekar over his statement that only the Speaker had the power to decide on MLAs' disqualification. "His [Narvekar's] statement is not important. When the crisis happened, no speaker was there. The deputy speaker [Zirwal] had given the decision. We have filed the case in SC, and let's see what happens tomorrow [Thursday]," he said.

Raut also cast doubts on Narvekar's recent meeting with Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju. He asked whether the three-hour-long meeting was about the verdict and wondered whether Narvekar knew about the judgment.

The MVA partners--the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party - were also hopeful of a favourable decision.

164
Support that Shinde got in House last year

145
Half-way mark of House strength