The petitioner Meenakshi Menon claimed that this provision was used by politiicans for group defections and voters are betrayed because of such unabated defections
Bombay High Court/ File Photo
A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a paragraph on the “split and merger” of political parties in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution be declared illegal and ultra vires and in contravention of its basic structure. According to the PTI report, the petitioner Meenakshi Menon, a media & marketing professional and a founder trustee of NGP Vanshakti, claimed that this provision was used by politiicans for group defections and voters are betrayed because of such unabated defections.
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“Unabated group defections in the form of splits and mergers under paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution has become a part of political culture with complete disregard to the act of betrayal to voters,” the PTI report cited the PIL.
The litigation further stated that defections in the form of split and merger under the provision is furthering alienation of the general public to the process of elections itself, wherein thousand crores of taxpayers’ money are spent with no accountability.
Reportedly, Advocates Ahmed Abdi and Eknath Dhokale on Monday mentioned the PIL before division bench of Chief Justice DK Upadhyaya and Justice Arif Doctor. The bench has directed the lawyers to first remove objections raised in the plea by the HC registry department and mention plea again.
The petition also sought that the court declare legislators or groups of legislators defecting from the original political party not be entitled to participate in the proceedings of House or to hold any Constitutional posts until the issue relating to their disqualification is decided.
Petitioner, Meenakshi Menon, according to PTI report, said the plea was filed in the backdrop of the June 2022 Maharashtra political crisis which began with a vertical split in Shiv Sena after now Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and a large number of MLAs defected from Uddhav Thackeray-led party leading to collapse of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. The plea further likened CM Shinde’s rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and Ajit Pawar’s rebellion against his uncle and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar.
“Recently, Ajit Pawar's rebellion against his uncle and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar has a lot of similarities with how Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde rebelled against the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government,” the plea said.
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