The hearing of disqualification pleas by the two Shiv Sena factions resumed after a long break before the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar, who, after listening to both sides, kept the next hearing on October 13.

The lengthy process, which took off again after the Supreme Court’s rap is expected to take months, thus diminishing the hopes of an early decision over the matter that had come up after the Sena split last year. The Eknath Shinde group had joined hands with the BJP to topple the Uddhav Thackeray government. The Election Commission of India has given the Shinde faction the party’s name and election symbol. Later the Supreme Court asked the speaker to decide on the pleas in a reasonable time.