Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar led NCP faction lodged a plea in the Bombay High Court challenging the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar’s decision not to disqualify MLAs belonging to Sharad Pawar’s faction of NCP.
The petition was filed through Anil Bhaidas Patil, Relief and Rehabilitation Minister and whip of the Ajit Pawar’s faction. The plea asserted that once Ajit Pawar’s-faction was declared as the real NCP, MLAs of the rival faction ought to have been disqualified. It alleged that the Speaker had not appreciated their submissions.
The plea challenges the legality, propriety, and correctness of the Speaker’s order dismissing disqualification petitions against 10 MLAs from Sharad Pawar’s faction. It further seeks the court to declare the Speaker’s order as legally flawed, quash it, and disqualify all 10 MLAs. Reportedly, Anil Patil filed two petitions against the 10 MLAs, including Jayant Patil and Anil Deshmukh, from Sharad Pawar’s faction.
Advocate Shrirang Varma and Advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh mentioned the petition before a division bench led by Justice GS Kulkarni on Tuesday. The bench scheduled a hearing on the matter on Wednesday.
Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on February 15, ruled that Ajit Pawar’s party was the legitimate Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) but rejected calls to disqualify MLAs from either faction. The Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar led factions had been contesting the party’s ownership and the disqualification of MLAs.
Meanwhile, Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar recently dismissed disqualification petitions lodged against Ajit Pawar faction of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) by senior politician Sharad Pawar.
Maharashtra speaker Rahul Narwekar referred to the legislative majority principle and observed that Ajit Pawar faction enjoyed majority support of MLAs in the legislative assembly and can be considered the real NCP. He added that the resolution that Ajit Pawar faction had support of 41 out of 53 MLAs is not disputed.
Rahul Narwekar said that Ajit Pawar had support of MLAs and they outnumbered the Sharad Pawar faction. He further stated that the switch by MLAs did not fall under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and hence did not merit disqualification. He further noted that the respondent cannot be disqualified as Ajit Pawar faction constituted the will of the party, therefore, the petitions against them are liable to be dismissed.
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