Hyderabad: If one were to go by the Constitution, the Eknath Shinde-led rebels adopting resolutions against the Legislature Party chief sans adequate numbers has given the much-needed lifeline for the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's Sena as there is a precedent for the Assembly Speaker to disqualify the 16 dissident MLAs facing disqualification charges under the Anti-Defection Law.
The disqualification of the AIADMK MLAs who revolted against Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS), in 2017, is a case in point. The obvious is the parallel. When VK Sasikala's nephew TTV Dhinakaran was sidelined, he decamped with 19 MLAs who later wrote to the Governor that they had lost faith in the CM EPS alleging ‘abuse of power’, ‘corruption’ and ‘favouritism’.
The Government Whip Rajendran petitioned the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal to disqualify the dissidents. Subsequently, the Speaker issued show-cause notices asking why they should not be disqualified. He gave them time to present their side of the story.
After the hearing, Dhanapal ruled disqualifying the 18 dissident MLAs who were rallying for TTV and pardoned a legislator who switched to the ruling dispensation's side. The disqualified legislators challenged the Speaker's decision in the Madras High Court. A two-member bench gave a split verdict. A third Judge who was appointed by the Supreme Court, on independent application of mind, upheld the disqualification.
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"The view taken by the Speaker [that the 18 MLAs had voluntarily given up membership of the AIADMK by giving representations to the Governor on August 22, 2017, withdrawing support to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami] is a possible if not, plausible view," the judge said in the order. EPS whose government would have crumbled under its own weight completed the full tenure since his elevation.
Cut to Maharashtra. The Shinde faction sent a letter dated June 21, 2022, to the Deputy Speaker adopting two resolutions which they claim to have been unanimously adopted by 34 legislators including 4 independents of the Legislative Assembly. It reposed its faith in Eknath Shinde amid the Uddhav Thackeray group dropping Shinde as the group leader of the Legislature Party. Shinde faction also appointed Bharat Gogawale as its Chief Whip while relieving Sunil Prabhu through another resolution.
The letter delved into the pre-poll alliance with BJP and expressed discontent over the present Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) churned out by the party leader Uddhav. It blamed the Sena Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray who is also the state CM for compromising the party's core principle -Hindutva for clinging on to power besides levelling corruption charges against the cabinet colleagues of Thackeray.
That being said the numbers matter. When the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution was amended in 2003, it revised the requisite numbers to evade disqualification against defection to a two-thirds majority from one-third. The present strength of Shiv Sena in the House is 55, and two-thirds of it would be 37. Technically, the Shinde faction when it wrote the first official communication to the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Governor did not have the requisite numbers to duck the Anti-Defection provision.
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Thackeray who had moved to his family home Matoshree from his official residence has set in motion the disqualification proceedings which the Deputy Speaker Narhari Sitaram Zirwal is expected to take up for hearing early next week.
