Supreme Court questions legislative majority test in Shiv Sena row

The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned whether legislative majority is a safe test to decide ownership of a political party when disqualification proceedings are pending against the MLAs forming that majority. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana posed the question to the Eknath Shinde faction during a hearing on the Shiv Sena dispute.

Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the Shinde faction, argued that the Election Commission considered multiple tests before concluding that legislative majority was the only workable test in this case due to the party's autocratic structure and nominated members. Justice Bagchi suggested the EC could have denied the reserved symbol to both factions and directed them to contest on their own strength.

The hearing concerns Uddhav Thackeray's challenge to the EC's recognition of the Shinde faction as the original Shiv Sena. The court is examining whether the EC exhausted all available options before its decision.