New Delhi: In his first public reaction after the Supreme Court verdict in last year’s Shiv Sena-centred political crisis in Maharashtra, former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said his successor Eknath Shinde should resign as he had done. His response came soon after the SC held that it was not proper to summon the then Governor of Maharashtra – Bhagat Singh Koshyari – Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority in the assembly on June 30 last year. The apex court, however, said that it cannot reinstate the then Uddhav government as it had resigned without facing the floor test.
Uddhav Thackeray said at a press conference after the Supreme Court’s decision, “Eknath Shinde won by killing democracy. He should resign as chief minister like me.”
He also said that his resignation as chief minister in June last year may have been legally “wrong”, but he did so on “moral grounds”.
Uddhav said, “He (now the Shinde faction MLA) has betrayed my party and the legacy of my father (Bal Thackeray).”
Uddhav Thackeray resigned without facing floor test, so cannot reinstate him as CM: SC
Eknath Shinde will continue as Chief Minister of Maharashtra after the Supreme Court said he cannot restore the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray as he resigned in June last year without facing a floor test Was. The court also pulled up the then Governor of Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, saying he did not have reasons based on objective material to conclude that Thackeray, the then Chief Minister, had lost the confidence of the House.
In a unanimous verdict on a set of pleas related to the political crisis that led to the fall of the Thackeray-led three-party MVA government following a rebellion by the Shinde faction, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud Said that the then Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale of the Shinde faction as the Shiv Sena whip was ‘illegal’.
However, it said that since Thackeray had resigned without facing a floor test, it was appropriate for the Governor to invite Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP, the largest political party in the House.
“It was not proper for the Governor to call upon Mr. Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House as he did not have reasons based on objective material to come to the conclusion that Mr. Thackeray has lost the confidence of the House”, the Bench, which Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and PS Narasimha were also involved, said.
However, the status quo (previously existing position) could not be restored as Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation. Therefore, the Governor invited Mr. Shinde to form the government at the behest of the BJP, which was the largest political party in the House.
The top court also referred the 2016 Nabam Rebia judgment by a five-judge constitution bench, which deals with the Speaker’s power on disqualification of legislators, to a larger bench of seven judges.
It said whether the proposal to remove the Speaker would restrict his powers to issue disqualification notices required examination by a larger bench. The 2016 judgment dealt with the powers of the Speaker and ruled that the Speaker cannot proceed on pleas for disqualification of legislators if a prior notice seeking his removal is pending before the House Is.
The bench said that the then Governor relied on a resolution by a group of Shiv Sena MLAs to conclude that Thackeray had lost majority in the House.
The CJI, who pronounced the judgment on behalf of the bench, said that the resolution relied upon by the then governor did not indicate that the legislators wanted to withdraw support to the MVA government.
On June 29, 2022, At the height of the Maharashtra turmoil, the apex court had refused to stay the governor’s direction to the Uddhav Thackeray-led 31-month-old MVA government to hold a floor test. Sensing defeat, Thackeray resigned, allowing the Shiv Sena-BJP government led by Eknath Shinde to come to power.
On August 23, 2022, a three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by then CJI NV Ramana, had framed several questions of law and referred to the five-judge bench petitions filed by two factions of the army, in which the parties Many constitutional questions related to the change were raised. , merger and disqualification.
In a jolt to the Thackeray faction, the Election Commission earlier this year declared the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the bow and arrow symbol of the party founded by Balasaheb Thackeray.
The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly has a strength of 288 members, in which the BJP is the single largest party with 105 MLAs.