Latest news with #UddhavBalasahebThackeray
Scroll.in
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Hold local body polls in Maharashtra within four months, directs Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Tuesday in an interim order ordered local body elections in Maharashtra to be notified within four weeks and completed within four months, Live Law reported. However, it allowed the Election Commission to approach it in case further time was required. The elections in 27 municipal corporations including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, 243 nagar parishads and 289 rural panchayats, have been stalled since 2022 due to a case in the Supreme Court reservation for Other Backward Classes. The terms of these representatives for various bodies ended between 2020 and 2022. 'Today, bureaucrats are occupying all the municipal corporations and panchayats and are making major policy decisions,' the court was quoted as saying by The Hindu. 'A complete democratic process has been stalled due to this litigation. Officers have no accountability. Why not allow the elections as per the present data?' OBC communities account for over 38% of Maharashtra's population, a significant vote bank. The Maharashtra government had announced 27% reservation for OBCs in local bodies. But in 2021, the decision was struck down by the Supreme Court because it breached the 50% limit the court had set on the total number of reservations. In 2022, the Maharashtra government again announced 27% reservation in certain rural and smaller urban bodies based on the recommendations of the Jayant Kumar Banthia Commission, which was formed in March that year. In August 2022, the top court had ordered that status quo be maintained in the matter. The Banthia Commission report was also challenged through petitions filed before the court. Since then the matter has been under judicial review. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court directed that elections be held based on the reservation framework that existed before the report was submitted. The court noted that since elected bodies have a fixed term, there would be no irreversible harm to those seeking changes to existing laws for including or excluding certain OBC communities, Live Law reported. Based on Tuesday's interim order, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing of its plea challenging the Election Commission's move to recognize the Eknath Shinde faction as the official party and allot it the bow and arrow symbol. The party contended that since the court had ordered local body elections to be held, the petition needed to be heard urgently.
Scroll.in
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Uddhav Sena urges SC to fast-track hearing of election symbol dispute ahead of local body polls
The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to expedite the hearing of its plea challenging the Election Commission's move to recognize the Eknath Shinde faction as the official party and allot it the bow and arrow symbol, Live Law reported. The party, through its lawyer Kapil Sibal, made the request a day after the court directed that Maharashtra's local body elections be notified in four weeks and completed within four months. He argued that since the court had ordered local body elections to be held, the petition needed to be heard urgently. Sibal cited the Supreme Court's 2023 Constitution Bench judgment, which ruled that a legislative majority alone cannot determine the real party and argued that the Election Commission relied solely on this criterion in the current case. However, Justice Surya Kant noted it might not be possible to hear the matter before the court's vacation, Live Law reported. Kant verbally highlighted that the Shiv Sena (UBT) now has a symbol and asked why it could not contest elections with it. 'Let the elections be held smoothly,' he added. 'You concentrate on that. In local bodies, mostly voters don't support a symbol.' The Shiv Sena had split in June 2022 after then-Chief Minister Eknath Shinde claimed the support of 39 out of the Shiv Sena's 55 MLAs, in addition to 10 independent MLAs, and rebelled against Thackeray's Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition. The Shiv Sena, the then-united Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress were allies in the government. Shinde went on to dislodge the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government, becoming chief minister with the support of Bharatiya Janata Party, Both factions have since then contested who represents the real Shiv Sena. In 2023, the Election Commission of India handed over the official name and election symbol – the bow and arrow – of the Shiv Sena to the Shinde faction. The poll panel had said that 40 MLAs backing Shinde got nearly 76% of the votes polled in favour of the 55 Shiv Sena candidates who had won their seats in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls. On the other hand, the Uddhav Thackeray faction's 15 MLAs got 23.5% of the votes polled. In January 2024, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar also held that the group of MLAs headed by Shinde constituted the real Shiv Sena when rival factions of the political party emerged in June 2022. The Thackeray-led Sena has since had a new election symbol – the mashal, or torch.
Indian Express
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
‘Part-time politics won't work in Maharashtra': Milind Deora slams Thackeray family over vacationing abroad during crisis
Shiv Sena MP Milind Deora criticised the Thackeray family and accused them of acting like 'tourists in their own country' and failing to show genuine concern following the recent terrorist attack on Indian tourists in Pahalgam, Kashmir. Speaking to reporters in Delhi, Deora noted that while Prime Minister Narendra Modi cut short his diplomatic visit and returned to the country immediately after the incident, the Thackeray family—referring to the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray (UBT) faction—continued their foreign vacation. On the other hand, praising Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde for his swift response, he said, 'following the Pahalgam attack, Eknath Shinde immediately travelled to Srinagar, ensured the safe return of stranded tourists, and personally met with them to offer reassurance. Thanks to his efforts, more than 500 tourists from Maharashtra were safely brought back. In stark contrast, the Thackeray family reportedly holidayed in Europe during this crucial time.' Deora criticised the UBT leadership for their lack of personal outreach and said, 'instead of meeting the families of those who lost their lives, they limited themselves to social media posts. Their absence during such a tragic moment is deeply disappointing.' He further added, 'While the nation mourned the loss of innocent lives, the UBT faction—who claim to be the true heirs of Maharashtra's legacy—remained abroad for over two weeks. Not a single MP from their party attended the all-party meeting called by the Centre. They didn't even pay tribute to Maharashtra's 106 martyrs on May 1—not even with a symbolic tweet.' 'It is Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena 's chief leader and Deputy Chief Minister, who is truly upholding the legacy of Hindu Hriday Samrat Balasaheb Thackeray. This tourist-style, part-time politics—where leaders fly in for photo ops and disappear again—will no longer be tolerated. Prime Minister Modi has already ended such politics in Delhi and Maharashtra is doing the same,' he said.
