Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar has provided an explanation for his decision not to disqualify members of the Uddhav Thackeray camp, a question raised by the Shiv Sena UBT chief. The Speaker stated that while the appointment of Bharat Gogawale as whip was appropriate, it was uncertain if the whip to attend the party meeting was adequately served to Thackeray faction MLAs.
Thackeray had raised this concern during his media interaction, questioning why they were not disqualified if their version of the constitution was deemed invalid. Narwekar, in delivering his verdict on the pending disqualification petitions since June 2022, had referred to Shinde’s faction as the “real Shiv Sena,” basing his decision on a 1999 version of the party constitution with the Election Commission.
Narwekar had highlighted that Thackeray’s 2018 constitution version was not on record. According to that constitution, Uddhav Thackeray did not possess the authority to remove Eknath Shinde from the Shiv Sena. He also dismissed the petitions to disqualify MLAs from both camps, a move that faced strong criticism.
In response to the criticism, Narwekar stated, “You can awaken a person who is sleeping, but it is rather impossible to wake up a person who is pretending to sleep.” He further added that skipping a party meeting indicates dissent rather than a violation of rules, therefore it does not warrant disqualification. He emphasized that the right to dissent is included in the constitutional right to freedom of speech.
Following the split in June 2022, both Sena factions had served disqualification notices against each other. The list from the Eknath Shinde faction included 14 out of 16 MLAs supporting Uddhav Thackeray. The Thackeray faction had filed disqualification petitions against 40 MLAs from Team Shinde.
Narwekar also addressed the criticism suggesting that he had violated Supreme Court orders and failed to understand its brief, a concern voiced by Thackeray as well. Narwekar clarified that the courts had instructed him to determine the authentic political party, as the whip of the original political party would be applicable and recognized. Therefore, after recognizing Bharat Gogawale as the whip, it was his responsibility to ensure the proper service of the whip.
In response to Thackeray’s strong criticism, Narwekar described the allegations as baseless and urged those who believe his order to be untenable or unjustified to provide their reasoning and highlight any shortcomings in the order.
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