The end or the beginning of a new battle?

The Supreme Court’s verdict of scrapping the 12 BJP legislators’ one-year suspension rekindles the judiciary versus legislature debate in Maharashtra

Last week, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) celebrated the Supreme Court’s verdict that set aside the one-year suspension of its 12 Maharashtra Assembly members. While slamming the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, the BJP quoted the court’s observations that the Assembly’s action was unconstitutional and arbitrary. In response, the MVA reignited the age-old debate whether the judiciary can/should interfere with the legislature that works as a nation within a nation, clearly indicating that the matter won’t rest. 

With the budget session scheduled to begin in the last week of February, the action has already shifted to the Vidhan Bhavan. The SC’s verdict is expected to be examined, similar happenings here and in the other states and Parliament will be referred to while preparing the response. Armed with the SC verdict, the petitioners may try to resume the duties that the suspension had denied them since July last year. But will their rights be restored anytime soon? The question holds the key to the future skirmishes between the MVA and the BJP.

The possibilities

The matter will end in case the Speaker respects the SC verdict and re-admits the MLAs in the Budget session before their 12-month suspension term is over. But considering the bad blood between the ruling and opposition parties, the possibility looks unlikely as the SC’s suggestion during the hearing that the matter be resolved before the Speaker, did not work, and ultimately led to the verdict. 

The other most likely possibility is to sit on the decision till the suspension term is over, later this year. Ruling leaders have discussed the previous instances, in which, the legislature, including Maharashtra, had decided to ignore the court directives. It had happened in the dance bar ban cases in Maharashtra. The leaders have recalled that the judiciary and Parliament avoid clashes that lead to a debate over their respective supremacy in a democratic setup. 

The BJP has a counterview to this. It said, who, if not the Supreme Court, will interpret the Constitution? In the case of suspension, the three-member SC bench has termed the Maharashtra Assembly’s action unconstitutional. The court has also strongly sermonised the petitioners on behaving as lawmakers and advocated the need for constitutional, legal and logical action against the bad behaviour in the house.

But before any decision is taken in the forthcoming budget session, it will be interesting to see whether the 12 MLAs try to force their way to the Vidhan Bhavan where their entry is banned. The legislative committees meeting, which these MLAs are part of, and their party meetings are also held in the Vidhan Bhavan building. Some say there could be yet another round of legal battle in the SC if the state government deems fit. Overall, the atmosphere is charged up yet again politically, with endless possibilities of the outcome. 

Battle lines drawn for polls

The relentless BJP has vowed to teach the Shiv Sena a lesson, and it said the process has already begun with the local body polls that saw the Sena trail at the fourth position. The party’s deficiency hurt the CM and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray most. 

The president not only shared the blame for not doing much personally, but also cautioned the party leader against complacency, and advised them to learn election management from the BJP and MVA partners. The battle lines are drawn for the Mumbai civic elections which have been a lifeline for the Sena for decades. The Sena can afford to suffer a loss anywhere but Mumbai, which is the BJP’s prime target. The BJP is leaving no stone unturned to create a bigger space in the BMC house of 236, which includes nine new wards.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore

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