At 1 am on the midnight of 2nd and 3rd July, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Jitendra Awhad got a letter received at the Speaker’s office of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly demanding disqualification of 9 MLAs. These are the 9 MLAs who have taken oath as ministers, supporting the BJP-Shiv Sena government. This was the moment from where the role of Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar begins in the midst of turmoil in the politics of Maharashtra. It is up to Speaker Rahul Narvekar whether Sharad Pawar’s new chief whip and leader of the opposition Jitendra Awhad gives importance to the letter or Ajit Pawar’s claim of joining the government with 40 NCP members.
Actually, Sharad Pawar is not yet ready to formally accept that 40 MLAs and 4 MPs have left him and gone with Ajit Pawar. On his instructions, Jitendra Awhad has requested to take disqualification action against Ajit Pawar and 8 other MLAs who took the oath of cabinet with him as per para 4 of the Anti-Defection (Amendment) Act 2003 listed in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution. Para 4 of the anti-defection law provides that if the anti-defection camp does not have 2/3rd of the total number of MLAs of the party, then they can be disqualified. Sharad Pawar camp is making this demand.
On the other hand, Ajit Pawar’s camp is strongly claiming that he has the support of 37 MLAs. Although no such letter or support letter has come to the fore, 45 leaders including 40 MLAs and 4 MPs have been claimed to attend the swearing-in ceremony.
As soon as the Sharad Pawar faction handed over the letter to the Speaker’s office, Speaker Rahul Narvekar swung into action. Rahul Narvekar met Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at his residence on the afternoon of July 3. Newly appointed Deputy CM Ajit Pawar was also present during this meeting. Sources reveal that earlier, Speaker Narvekar consulted his secretariat on constitutional aspects and got information about the current developments in the light of para 4 and para 8 of the anti-defection law. It is said that Ajit Pawar has asked the MLAs of his camp for a letter of support to deposit with the office of speaker Rahul Narvekar. So that they can declare the letter petition from Sharad Pawar’s faction cancelled.
Speaker Rahul Narvekar wants that the case of Ajit Pawar’s faction should not go for review by the Supreme Court like the case with the support of Shinde faction. On the other hand, the Sharad Pawar faction wants them to show support to the on-paper MLAs in their camp and if Narvekar gives a decision against them, then under Articles 32 and 226 of the Constitution, file a petition against the Speaker’s decision in the Supreme Court and the matter will be taken up with the Legislative Party vs political party.
However, political pundits of Maharashtra say that the situation is not the same as it was a year ago. Still, the anti-defection law gives the Speaker of the House the right to decide which party or MLA can be disqualified or not. The court cannot interfere with the decision of the Speaker. However, in Kihoto Hollohun vs. Josillu case, the Supreme Court has given this arrangement in 1992 that even though the court cannot interfere in the case of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, but it can definitely review its decision judicially.
Incidentally, it is necessary to mention here that the disqualification case of 16 MLAs who had broken away from the Uddhav faction a year ago is still pending before Speaker Narvekar. In this regard, Narvekar says that the Supreme Court has considered the Speaker’s decision as supreme. The question is, while issuing notices to MLAs, which party should be considered as a legislative party and which as a political party and which one is both. Narvekar said the issue will be resolved when the time comes and it will also be decided whether Shinde’s faction Shiv Sena had the status of both a legislative party and a political party or not.