Mumbai, July 26 (IANS): The Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (SS) has filed a fresh petition in the Bombay High Court urging it to take an early decision on its plea for the disqualification of Shiv Sena (UBT)’s 14 MLAs before the Maharashtra Assembly elections slated for September-October.

This was confirmed by SS MLA and chief whip Bharat Gogawale here on Friday.

After Shinde’s rebellion, 15 MLAs remained with the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction while 40 legislators including Shinde along with 10 Independents joined hands with the BJP to form the Mahayuti government in June 2022.

“Shiv Sena had already filed a petition for the disqualification of legislators of Shiv Sena (UBT). A fresh petition has been filed requesting the High Court for an early judgment before the Assembly elections,” said Gogawale.

He added that the Election Commission had handed over the Sena party and bow and arrow symbol to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

“So we are the real Shiv Sena and not the Shiv Sena (UBT). The legislators of the Thackeray group have not followed our whip. If the disqualification is not decided before the Assembly elections, the petition becomes ineffective. Therefore, in the fresh petition we have appealed to the High Court to decide the matter on disqualification before the election,” he added.

The SS had moved the Bombay High Court in January this year, challenging Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to not disqualify SS(UBT) MLAs.

Narwekar in his ruling had said that the SS was legitimate in view of the support of the majority of party legislators. However, the Speaker refused to disqualify any member from both the factions, led by Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray.

Gogawale in his petition filed in January this year said that on July 3, 2022, he had issued a whip to all SS members to vote in favour of the Shinde-led government for the confidence motion in the Assembly on July 4, following a split in the party.

He added that the 14 legislators of the SS(UBT) violated the whip and also voluntarily gave up membership of the Shiv Sena political party by their acts and omissions.