The verdict on the political crisis in Maharashtra is finally here and the Supreme Court has given its expected judgement on the case. Regardless of BJP leaders claiming for the verdict to be in their favour, the reality is contradictory.
The Apex Court has ruled that whatever the BJP did to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led government was not in accordance with the Constitution of India. Only thing that saved Eknath Shinde’s government was Thackeray’s resignation. If Thackeray had not resigned and had let his government be toppled, this decision by the court would have allowed to reinstate him in power.
This is a slap on the face for BJP and Shinde faction as although the Shinde-led government is safe for now, the top court’s ruling makes it clear that the political strategies adapted by BJP to topple Uddhav-led government were not appropriate. The move of Shinde-faction to split from the party had received considerable backlash and the common narrative was that the BJP had toppled the government in illegal ways.
The Shinde faction was first taken to Surat followed by Guwahati and Goa. In which law does this fit? Who paid for their travel? If the rebellion was within the party, then it should have been resolved by sitting in the State’s capital that is Mumbai. Instead of that, the BJP tried all means possible to take see that defected MLAs do not rejoin the main faction of Shiv Sena. Defected MLAs were kept in a watertight security. Who provided this security system? The states where these MLAs were taken are ruled by BJP which means they themselves provided the security. Defected MLAs cannot do anything on their own and it is clear that the saffron party was behind the rebellion. However, the BJP kept stating that the rebellion was within the Sena and Sena only. Of course, although some of the Sena MLAs rebelled under the leadership of Eknath Shinde, BJP was behind the wheel of it all. Shinde at one point had even clearly said that Devendra Fadnavis was entirely responsible for this government to take shape. The main question was how, despite anti-defection law being in place, MLAs were joining another party? As per the law, MLAs who defect and join another party are considered as disqualified.
A party with 2/3rd strength of its members can merge into another party but the Shinde-led group had done nothing of that sort either. They had split and separated from the party but were claiming their faction as the main party. Their move was aided by the BJP who are ruling at the Centre. At the same time, they forgot the existence of anti-defection law which was amended in 2003, seeks to limit such defections and merging into another party remains the only option if an MLA wishes to leave a party and join another. Hence, their action to leave the party the way they did was illegal.
It is true that Shinde-faction currently has 40 MLAs but they did not come altogether. 16 defected first and rest followed one by one and everyone knew that they could be disqualified. But the BJP after gaining power, complementarily brought things together which would favour their intentions. The CJI-led five-member bench has ruled that the exercise of discretion by the then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to conduct a floor test was not in accordance with the Constitution. Needless to say that the governor acted in a way which benefited BJP.
The same governor had not allowed for the vacancy of Speaker’s post to be filled which led to proceedings of the Assembly during the political crisis being handled by deputy speaker. Common people and opposition’s accusation that the governor was in the wrong is validated by the Apex court’s order. The top court has also said that the Speaker must decide on disqualification petitions within a reasonable time. Another crucial observation of the court is that the Speaker’s decision to appoint Bharat Gogawale as a whip of the Shinde group was wrong. All in all, the Supreme Court has invalidated all the political games which were played by BJP to gain power in Maharashtra and so, this should be seen as the landmark judgement from the country’s top court. This judgement will abide others to replicate such decisions. However, this judgement will have no impact on Goa MLAs
defection case.
