Uddhav Thackeray
The Shiv Sena’s Thackeray faction made an impassioned plea before the Supreme Court on Thursday to overturn then-Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari’s June 2022 order to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to take a floor test, claiming democracy would be jeopardized if it was not overturned.
A day after the Supreme Court questioned Koshyari’s conduct in calling for a trust vote solely on the basis of differences between Shiv Sena MLAs, senior attorney Kapil Sibal, representing the Thackeray bloc, urged a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud to rescind the order.
It had stated on Wednesday that such an action by the governor might overthrow an elected government and that the governor of a state cannot lend his authority to achieve a particular outcome.
The destiny of democracy will be decided at this point in this court’s history, Sibal said in concluding his reply arguments before the bench, which also included Justices MR Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and PS Narasimha.
“I am certain that without the intervention of this court, our democracy will be jeopardized because no elected government will be allowed to exist. With this hope, I beseech this court to grant this petition and vacate the governor’s order (of floor test)”, Sibal stated.
The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on the events of the June 2022 political crisis, which was precipitated by a revolt in the then-undivided Shiv Sena by MLAs loyal to Eknath Shinde.
Sibal stated that if the Sena MLAs had lost faith in the government, they could have voted against it in the House when a money bill was introduced, reducing the government to a minority status.
