SC to hear NCP plea on rebels' disqualification on Friday
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea by Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction on Friday. The NCP has sought directions to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar to act on their disqualification petitions against Ajit Pawar and other rebel MLAs. In July, an NCP group led by Ajit and Praful Patel joined Maharashtra's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena coalition government.
Why does this story matter?
On Monday, Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the Ajit faction, asked the SC to junk the Pawar faction's plea, asserting their disqualification petitions before the speaker were filed only in September. However, Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Manu Singhvi argued that the Pawar-led bloc first filed the petitions in July. They also said that even a notice was not issued by Narwekar until now.
What the SC bench said
On the Pawar camp's plea, the SC bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra said, "Let this be heard with the other one (by Uddhav Thackeray's team) already pending before us." "They involve the same issue, and the prayers are also the same. We had asked the speaker to lay down a time schedule. We will list...together on Friday."
SC lists hearing for Friday
'Half facts do not help': Advocate Sibal
Ajit faction objects to same-day hearing
Rohatgi, however, objected to the SC hearing Pawar camp's plea on the same day as the Thackeray team's petition, saying both cases were different. Notably, CM Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Thackeray's Shiv Sena (UBT) have filed disqualification petitions against rival MLAs. Last month, 40 Shinde camp MLAs and 14 Thackeray team MLAs appeared before the speaker for the first hearing on the matter.
Pawar vs Pawar in Maharashtra
On July 2, Ajit and eight other NCP MLAs joined the ruling Sena and BJP coalition. Subsequently, he was sworn in as the deputy CM while the other rebel NCP MLAs took oath as cabinet ministers. Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is hearing a petition filed by the Ajit faction demanding the NCP party's name and election symbol be given to them.
