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Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 22, 2026

 

NEW DELHI – The Supreme Court Wednesday issued a notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on his decision to approve the merger of six Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT) members of Parliament into the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The petition has been filed by Arvind Ganpat Sawant, a member of the Shiv Sena (UBT) party, challenging the speaker's order. The apex court will hear Sawant's plea after two weeks.

 

Sawant said that the issue raised important questions of constitutional morality and propriety. The six members of Parliament were chosen on one party's symbol and had now moved to another party, said Sawant. These six members of Parliament unilaterally decide that now Shiv Sena (UBT) has to merge with a rival political party, where there is absolutely no merger possible, he said. 

 

Seeking interim relief for staying the merger, Sawant said that the whole episode had been orchestrated. There was grave urgency and all such processes are defeated by the efflux of time, said Sawant, adding that the speaker had no jurisdiction to pass an order on the merger. The apex court said that it would consider the issue of giving interim relief later.

 

On Saturday, the Lok Sabha Secretariat published a circular with the Shiv Sena's revised position in the Lok Sabha. The Shiv Sena with floor leader Shrikant Eknath Shinde had 13 members of Parliament, the circular said, meaning the Lok Sabha Speaker had approved the merger of six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs with the Shiv Sena faction led by Shinde. The Shiv Sena (UBT) will now have only three members of Parliament in the Lok Sabha.

 

Last month, Shinde had declared that six rebel members of Parliament from the rival Shiv Sena (UBT) group joined the Shinde-led faction at a ceremony at Y.B. Chavan Centre in Mumbai. The lawmakers who joined Shinde's party were Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, Bhausaheb Rajaram Wakchaure, Omprakash Bhupalsingh Nimbalkar, Sanjay Dina Patil, Sanjay Uttamrao Deshmukh, and Nagesh Bapurao Patil Ashtikar. 

  

In 2022, in a split led by Shinde, 40 of the Shiv Sena's 56 legislators had broken away, allegedly under pressure from central investigative agencies. The split led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. The breakaway group formed a new government with the Bharatiya Janata Party, with Shinde as chief minister.  End

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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