Shinde camp's Raju Waghmare says Thackeray faction's claims failed legal test after Supreme Court hearing

Mumbai: Political temperatures have risen again after today's hearing in the Supreme Court in the legal battle over the Shiv Sena party and the bow-and-arrow symbol. Shiv Sena co-spokesperson Dr Raju Waghmare targeted the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) party at a press conference called in Mumbai. He claimed the Thackeray faction's claims did not stand the test of law.

Waghmare said the Election Commission and the Assembly Speaker had taken their decisions strictly in line with the provisions of the Constitution. According to him, the Thackeray faction contends that the Election Commission cannot decide on the party and the symbol while a disqualification case is pending. Waghmare said Shiv Sena counsel Neeraj Kishan Kaul rejected this point by citing the Subhash Desai case. He also said the argument that the Election Commission has the power to decide under Article 324 was placed before the court.

Important points were also made on behalf of Shiv Sena on the question of disqualification, Waghmare said. He claimed it was argued in court that if a legislator is disqualified from the legislature, this does not necessarily affect membership of the political party directly. In Waghmare's words, a legislator is not disqualified merely because a disqualification case has been filed; the disqualification must be proved.

Citing the provisions of the Tenth Schedule, Waghmare claimed the Constitution Bench has made it clear that the political party and the party in the legislature are separate things. According to him, this is why Shiv Sena argued that the same rule cannot be applied directly to both.

Waghmare also spoke about the Election Commission's decision. He said the Commission decided after looking at the majority and the party's organisational structure. Waghmare alleged that Uddhav Thackeray amended the party constitution in 2018, but the amended constitution was not submitted to the Election Commission. According to him, this is why the Commission based its decision on the majority rather than the party constitution, and gave the Shiv Sena name and the bow-and-arrow symbol to the faction led by Eknath Shinde.

Waghmare further criticised the Thackeray faction on this issue. He alleged that instead of democracy within the party, a structure was created in which all powers rest with one person. After today's hearing, political debate over the Thackeray faction's claims is likely to flare up again.