The Sena versus Sena war continued before the Supreme Court for the second day, with the Maharashtra governor saying the 10th Schedule is not a weapon to stifle dissent, but to control unprincipled defection. “The 10th schedule is not a weapon to stifle bona fide legitimate dissent but it is to control unprincipled defection. Unbridled power takes away the confidence of MLAs and they cannot effectively exercise their freedom of conscience,” said solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Maharashtra governor before a constitution bench of the SC headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
Mehta said the speaker should not be permitted to tailor the electoral college, which has the power to vote him out of office. “The speaker should not be permitted to alter the legislative body, which has the power to vote him out. What are democratic principles?” questioned the top law officer of the government.
Opposing the submissions made by the solicitor general, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the Uddhav Thackeray camp, said, “The SG (solicitor general) cannot argue in his own individual capacity. He has to say that he is speaking for the governor.”
He added: “Either he says we have a fundamental right to buy off people.”
Sibal also argued before the court that the politics of defections does not have to be decided in the house. “You have to go back to the political party. Here, there is no spilt in the party. There is a split in the house. Eknath Shinde was one the 16 and he has become the chief minister,” the senior lawyer said.
While dealing with the question on whether the Nabam Rebia judgment is to be referred to a seven-judge bench for reconsideration, the bench observed, “It’s a tough constitutional issue to answer. The consequences of both positions have very serious ramifications for the polity.”
“There need to be compelling reasons and clear, cogent and apparent errors on the face of it for a reference to a larger bench to be sustainable,” Mehta said.
He argued that merely because the said observations as per the petitioners’ belief are not in their favour, it cannot be grounds to reconsider them.
The constitution bench is dealing with a batch of petitions concerning the situation that unfolded in Maharashtra, in the wake of Shinde’s rebellion against the Maha Vikas Aghadi government then led by Uddhav Thackeray. These have raised important constitutional questions related to the interpretation of the 10th schedule of the Constitution, which talks about the anti-defection law that is designed to prevent political defections.
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