Diverse reactions: Democracy dead vs victory of Constitution

Maharashtra assembly speaker Rahul Narwekar's ruling recognising chief minister Eknath Shinde's party as the "real" Shiv Sena in the MLAs disqualification case on Wednesday evoked sharp criticisms from the Uddhav Thackeray camp and its allies, which termed the verdict a "murder of democracy".

The Sena faction of Shinde and the BJP, its ally in the state, however, said the ruling was not a victory of any political party but that of the Indian Constitution and democracy.

In a big political win for Shinde, speaker Narwekar on Wednesday held that the Sena faction led by the chief minister was the "real political party" when rival groups emerged in June 2022. Narwekar also rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 MLAs of the ruling group, including Shinde.

"The foundation on which the order stands is wrong," Thackeray, who stepped down as chief minister after Shinde's rebellion in June 2022, said. "This is a murder of democracy and an insult to the Supreme Court." He said that his party will challenge the verdict in the top court and will also examine if a contempt petition can be filed against the speaker.

"We will fight this battle further and we have full confidence in the Supreme Court that it will not stop without giving complete justice to the people and Shiv Sena. I think he (speaker Narwekar) did not understand his responsibilities. The Supreme Court provided a framework to be followed... I think the decision was beyond his understanding...