Maharashtra Political Crisis: Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against Sharad Pawar in Maharashtra, has staked his claim on the NCP. He claimed that the NCP belonged to him, to which Sharad Pawar replied that the people will decide whose party it is.
Similarly, Sharad Pawar has taken action against Praful Patel and Sunil Tatkare, showing them the way out of the party. Also filed a disqualification petition against 9 MLAs including Ajit Pawar.
The party then moved a motion of disqualification against eight other MLAs who took oath as ministers in the state government led by Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde. In the same way that political parties are not immune to party divisions, defection and ineptitude, the Indian judiciary is also immune to political disputes and the legal battles that arise from them.
An anti-defection law was enacted to deal with such political disputes and MLAs rebelling with parties. Defection MLAs or MPs are punished under this Act. Political parties have to file a disqualification petition with the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to take action against MLAs who have left the party.
Whose right to make decisions?
This question is very important, because the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly has the right to decide on the disqualification of MLAs. According to a decision of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, the court cannot decide before the decision of the President or the Speaker. There is no time limit to decide on this with him.
However, in one case, the court had set a time limit for deciding the plea of disqualification. This was the decision of the Supreme Court case of Kesham Meghchandra Singh v. Speaker of Manipur Vidhan Sabha. The Supreme Court had said that then the Assembly Speaker will have to take a decision in due time.
The court had fixed a period of 3 months to decide on the plea of disqualification. A 3-judge constitution bench had said that according to Article 10, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is bound to take a decision in due time while judging the case of defections. It depends on the facts of each case.
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