SC gives Maharashtra speaker February 15 deadline to decide on NCP MLAs disqualification

Rahul Narwekar given extension by SC to decide on NCP disqualification

The Supreme Court on January 29 granted the speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, Rahul Nawarkar, an extension of 15 days to decide on the disqualification petitions against MLAs from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) . The speaker will now have to decide the petitions and pass orders by February 15.

In December 2023, the SC had granted Nawarkar time until January 31. However, the speaker moved the Supreme Court seeking an extension of time, stating that while the proceedings are ongoing, a little more time is required to pass orders considering the number of issues involved.

In July 2023, NCP leader Ajit Pawar and members of his faction joined the BJP-Shiv Sena led government in Maharashtra. Pawar took oath as the deputy chief minister of the state with chief minister Eknath Shinde and existing deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis in attendance.

This is the third time in four years that Ajit Pawar has taken oath as deputy CM. Eight NCP MLAs, including staunch Sharad Pawar loyalists like Chhagan Bhujbal and Dilip Walse Patil, were also made ministers.

Pursuant to this, the other faction of NCP led by Sharad Pawar moved a disqualification petition against Ajit Pawar and the eight ministers who took oath in the Eknath Shinde-led state government.

The party, founded by Sharad Pawar in 1999, suffered a vertical split after his nephew Ajit Pawar broke ranks and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government as deputy chief minister.

Shinde Vs Thackeray:

On January 10, 2024 deciding on disqualification plea against the members of Shinde-led Shiv Sena, speaker Rahul Narwekar held that the Shiv Sena faction led by him was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022, and did not disqualify any MLA from the two camps, a verdict that adds another chapter in the Sena legacy war.

In his 105-minute-long reading of the key points of the much-awaited ruling on the cross-petitions by Shiv Sena factions seeking disqualification of each other's MLAs following a split in the party in 2022, Narwekar also rejected the Uddhav Thackeray faction's petition to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling group, including Shinde.