The Supreme Court's Constitution Bench will deliver its verdict on May 11, in a batch of petitions pertaining to the Maharashtra political crisis which led to Eknath Shinde becoming the chief minister of the state.
The judgment is expected to answer legal questions such as the validity of the governor's decision to ask former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to face a floor test and should the governor have asked the rebel faction leader Eknath Shinde to take oath as chief minister.
The court heard elaborate arguments from both sides on the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India which deals with anti-defection.
A crisis erupted in the state after an open revolt in the Shiv Sena. On June 29, 2022, the apex court refused to stay the direction of the Maharashtra governor to the 31-month-old Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to take a floor test to prove its majority, after which Thackeray quit office.
On August 23, 2022, a three-judge bench of the top court, headed by then chief justice NV Ramana, since retired, had formulated several questions of law and referred to the five-judge bench the petitions filed by the two Sena factions, raising several constitutional questions related to defections, merger and disqualification.
It said the batch of petitions raised important issues related to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution pertaining to disqualification, powers of the speaker and governor and judicial review.
The apex court had said the proposition of law laid down by the Constitution Bench in the Nabam Rebia case stands on contradictory reasoning, which requires gap-filling to uphold constitutional morality.
The Tenth Schedule seeks to prevent the defection of elected and nominated members and contains stringent provisions against defections.
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