Oppn in Maharashtra urges CJI Gavai for immediate hearing on pending pleas over split in Shiv Sena and NCP

Mumbai, July 8 (IANS) The opposition parties in Maharashtra, on Tuesday, in two separate letters to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai raised the issues over pending petitions regarding the split in Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and also about lack of appointment of the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.

The opposition leaders comprising former Leader of the Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar (Congress), NCP-SP legislators Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad, and Shiv Sena-UBT Legislature Party leader Aaditya Thackeray and Shiv Sena-UBT group leader Bhaskar Jadhav submitted these signed letters to the CJI Gavai, who was felicitated earlier in the day by the Maharashtra Legislature.

The Opposition brought to the notice of the CJI the pending petitions about the split in the Shiv Sena and NCP pending nearly for more than three years.

They made a strong case for early hearing of those petitions.

In a letter regarding the pending case regarding party split, the Opposition said the petitions have been pending seeking the qualification of Shiv Sena and NCP MLAs, who quit the parties in violation of the anti-defection law.

Although the Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has held a hearing on this matter, no decision was taken to disqualify the members following which the matter has gone to the Supreme Court.

The court's decision is being closely monitored by Maharashtra as well as other states in the country.

The Opposition has urged CJI Gavai to look into the matter so that hearing will take place on these pending petitions at the earliest and thereby the Indian Constitution is protected.

In another letter to CJI Gavai, the Opposition raised the issue of lack of appointment of the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.

"Our country works according to the Constitution. We are also the guardians of the Constitution, so it is everyone's responsibility to ensure that the Constitution is not violated. We know that the court does not interfere in the functioning of the Legislature. However, as the guardians of the Constitution and the head of one of the four pillars of democracy, we would like to bring this matter to your attention," said the opposition leaders, including former Leader of Opposition Vijay Wadettiwar (Congress), NCP-SP legislators Jayant Patil and Jitendra Awhad and Shiv Sena-UBT Legislature Party leader Aaditya Thackeray and Shiv Sena-UBT group leader Bhaskar Jadhav.

They said: "Just as the post of Chief Minister of Maharashtra is constitutional, similarly the post of "Leader of Opposition" is also a constitutional post. Since only the Assembly Speaker has the authority to decide on it, it is also violating the Constitution."

The Opposition also said that the general elections in Maharashtra were held on November 20, 2024, whose results were declared on November 23, 2024.

After the results of the general elections were declared, the grand coalition comprising BJP (132 seats), Shiv Sena (57 seats) and Nationalist Congress Party (41 seats) formed the government in Maharashtra while the Shiv Sena-UBT won 20 seats, Congress (16 seats) and NCP-SP with 10 seats.

"Since Shiv Sena-UBT has maximum number of members, Congress and NCP-SP supported the Shiv Sena-UBT. Uddhav Thackeray wrote to the Assembly Speaker for the election of "Opposition Party Leader". In response to our correspondence, the Secretariat has said that there is no provision in the rules/laws regarding the election of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly. The right to appoint the Opposition leader lies with the Speaker," said the opposition parties.

They added that even though the Monsoon session of Maharashtra Assembly is underway, the Leader of the Opposition has not yet been selected by the Speaker till date.

--IANS

sj/khz