A legal expert has made a shocking claim regarding the fate of Shiv Sena Shinde faction in Maharashtra, stating that the Supreme Court will soon put an end to the political career of Eknath Shinde.
Asim Sarode, a leading lawyer from the state, predicted that the Supreme Court decision on the party name and ‘bow and arrow symbol’, which is now with the Shinde faction post the split of Shiv Sena, will be decided on September 14.
In a post on X, Sarode said the hands of the Supreme Court's law will now end the political career of Eknath Shinde and his party in Maharashtra within the next month. “The notion that anyone can, in any manner, arbitrarily split or hijack a party—this unconstitutionality and party theft—will not be tolerated, and as someone who loves the law and the judiciary, I find it important that this is established,” Sarode said.
He also took a swipe at then-governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, stating he was eager to see what the Supreme Court would say about “the active participation of the person holding the Governor’s post in establishing a government through an unconstitutional process”. He hoped that the roles of the Election Commission of India, acting outside the law, and the Speaker of the Assembly, never acting impartially but instead working to establish an illegal government, would also be dissected during the hearing.
The final decision on the Shiv Sena symbol and the party will be taken before the bench of Justice Suryakant. The Constitution Bench hearing will be held from August 23 to September 10. The Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray faction had requested in the Supreme Court to urgently hold a hearing urgent regarding the party symbol. But, since the petition requires in-depth consideration, the court indicated that an urgent hearing cannot be held.
The elections to Maharashtra civic bodies, including the cash-rich Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), will likely be held later this year. The Shiv Sena, which split in 2022, had controlled the BMC for nearly two decades.