SC agrees to hear Shiv Sena (UBT) plea against merger of 6 MPs with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a petition filed by Shiv Sena UBT challenging Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birlas decision recognising the merger of six of its Lok Sabha MPs with the Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena The apex court issued notices to the Speakers office and the six MPs while declining to grant an interim stay on the mergerThe matter has been posted for further hearing after two weeksSupreme Court issues notices seeks responsesA Bench comprising Justices PS Narasimha and Alok Aradhe issued notices to the Lok Sabha Speakers office the Joint Secretary concerned and the six MPs who joined the Eknath Shindeled Shiv SenaIssue notice the Bench said while directing the respondents to file their repliesHowever the court did not stay the Speakers July 18 decision recognising the merger ahead of the Monsoon Session of ParliamentShiv Sena UBT challenges Speakers decisionThe petition filed by Shiv Sena UBT leader Arvind Sawant challenges the constitutional validity of the Speakers decision under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule which deals with mergers under the antidefection lawAccording to the petition the Speakers decision has reduced the partys strength in the Lok Sabha from nine MPs to three significantly affecting its functioning in ParliamentSawant has argued that no merger of the original political party took place and therefore the six MPs cannot claim protection under the merger provisions to avoid disqualificationThe petition contends that legislators cannot independently merge with another political party unless the original political party itself has first decided to mergeBackground of the disputeAhead of the Monsoon Session Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla recognised the merger of six Shiv Sena UBT MPs with the Eknath Shindeled Shiv SenaThe six MPs had argued that they constituted the required twothirds majority of the legislature party under the Tenth Schedule and were therefore entitled to protection under the antidefection lawThe MPs who joined the Shinde faction are Bhausaheb Waghchaure Nagesh Patil Ashtikar Omprakash Raje Nimbalkar Sanjay Bandu Jadhav Sanjay Deshmukh and Sanjay Dina PatilBefore the Speaker passed the order Shiv Sena UBT opposed the move arguing that party chief Uddhav Thackeray had neither initiated nor approved any merger of the original political party with the Shindeled Shiv SenaDespite those objections the Speaker recognised the merger following which the six MPs ceased to be recognised as members of the Shiv Sena UBT Parliamentary PartySeparate plea challenges antidefection law interpretationMeanwhile senior advocate Kapil Sibal has also moved the Supreme Court through a separate writ petition seeking a reexamination of the interpretation of Paragraph 4 of the Tenth ScheduleMentioning the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant Sibal argued that the current interpretation allows groups of legislators to avoid disqualification by claiming mergers thereby weakening the antidefection lawHe submitted that if the present trend continued the Tenth Schedule will become meaninglessThe petition has been filed against the Union government and seeks judicial clarification on the constitutional provisions governing political mergers under the antidefection frameworkWith inputs from Agencies