Supreme Court ruling in Sena vs Sena

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Supreme Court ruling in Sena vs Sena

Supreme Court ruling in Sena vs Sena

News: The SC made some important observations that are important for our syllabus perspective.

Background of the issue:
 Last year, a group of Shiv Sena MLAs led by Eknath Shinde rebelled against the then Uddhav Thackeray.
 While it became evident that rebelled MLA’s will call for a trust vote, Shinde faction received disqualification notices from the then deputy speaker.
 The faction moved to the Supreme Court challenging the disqualification notices served on them by the Deputy Speaker.
 Later, several petitions were also filed by the Thackeray group challenging the then Maharashtra Governor’s decision to call for a trust vote and the swearing-in of Mr. Shinde as Chief Minister. The election of the new Speaker was also challenged.

What did the Supreme Court say?

Basis	Supreme Court’s observation
On Disqualification of MLA’s	The SC did not interfere with proceedings of disqualification and stated the issue be decided by the Speaker of Legislative Assembly.
Governor’s role on calling a floor test	The court said that the Governor was not justified in calling upon Mr. Thackeray to prove his majority on the floor of the House because he did not have objective material before him to reach the conclusion. But the Court also said that status quo ante cannot be restored because Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test and resigned from the post.
Appointment of Whip	The court said the appointment of the whip by the split-led faction to be illegal. The Speaker should have conducted an independent inquiry to verify the decision of the political party regarding the appointment of the whip.
Legislature party, Political party – Are they same?	The Shinde faction argued that political party and legislature party are intertwined. The SC said that they cannot be combined and stated as per provisions of the Representation of the People Act, an association of individuals calling itself a political party has to be registered with the EC.

Source – Hindustan Times, Indian Express