As the Supreme Court heard the Sena symbol case, Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud on Wednesday asked what happened overnight in the happy marriage of the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress that lasted for three years. “They broke bread for three years. They broke bread with the Congress and the NCP for three years. What happened overnight after three years of a happy marriage?” the CJI asked, as quoted by LiveLaw. To this question, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said he won’t be able to comment on that as this is a political debate. The CJI then said the governor (then governor) should have asked himself the question that what they were doing for all these years.
“Three years you co-habit and suddenly one fine day a group of 34 say there is discontent,” the CJI said.
“The Governor can’t be oblivious to the fact that in a three-party coalition, the dissent has taken place in one party of the three. The other two are steadfast in the coalition. They are not by any means sidekicks,” the CJI observed.
“Suppose there is a policy difference in a party on whatever aspects. Can the governor merely on that say that you must prove your trust vote? The governor must equally be conscious of the fact that his calling for a trust vote may itself be a circumstance which may lead to toppling of a government?,” the CJI said.
The election commission has allotted the Shiv Sena name and the bow and the arrow symbol to the faction led by Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde whose rebellion toppled the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by Uddhav Thackeray. The Shiv Sena (undivided), the Congress and the NCP came together to form the Maha Vikas Agadhi alliance which formed the government in 2019. Uddhav Thackeray approached the Supreme Court challenging the EC order.
