SC Rejects Plea To Transfer Shiv Sena Assets From Thackeray to Shinde Faction

"Who are you? What is your locus," the Supreme Court bench asked and then said, "Dismissed."

The Supreme Court on Friday, 28 April, dismissed a plea seeking transfer of all party assets of the Shiv Sena being held by the Uddhav Thackeray faction to the group led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

In the courtroom: A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha questioned the locus of petitioner Ashish Giri, reported news agency PTI.

• During the hearing, the CJI asked: "This is an Article 32 petition. How is this 32 petition maintainable?"

• In response, the petitioner said that there had been a Special Leave Petition (SLP) placed before the apex court.

• "Who are you to file this? We can't pass such orders. Dismissed," CJI Chandrachud said.

The petition argued that "all the movable and immovable assets of Shiv Sena along with the frontal organisations and aligning organisations be transferred to the new party president as per the orders of ECI," LiveLaw reported.

• "Any leader of any political party can not keep its assets and moveable and immovable properties personally and cannot divert to any other accounts or names," the plea further read.

• "The original party name and its symbol is given to any group by the Election Commission of India, the funds, assets and moveable and immovable property should be kept with original party," it added.

Some context: In 2022, the Shiv Sena party in Maharashtra split after 34 MLAs led by now Chief Minister Eknath Shinde rebelled against then party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

• The emergence of two Shiv Sena factions not only precipitated the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state but also kicked off a long legal battle before the Supreme Court, which has reserved judgment in the case.

Yes, but: In February, the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognised the Eknath Shinde faction as the 'real' Shiv Sena, ordering that it will retain the original party name and the party symbol bow and arrow.

(With inputs from LiveLaw.)