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Maharashtra

Uddhav vs Shinde: SC allows EC to decide which faction is real Shiv Sena

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In a big setback to Uddhav Thackeray’s faction, the Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to stop the Election Commission from deciding the claim of Eknath Shinde group to be the real Shiv Sena.

After a day-long hearing, a constitution bench headed by Justice D.Y. Chandrachud dismissed the interlocutory application filed on behalf of Thackeray’s faction. The apex court’s decision is very significant in view of the impending Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections, where both Shinde and Thackeray factions would like to contest the poll.

The bench — also comprising Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli, and P.S. Narasimha — said there would not be any stay on the proceedings before the Election Commission on intra party dispute and ‘bow and arrow’ symbol of the party. “We direct that there would be no stay of the proceedings before the Election Commission of India,” it said.

Senior advocates Kapil Sibal, A.M. Singhvi and Devadatt Kamat represented the Thackeray’s faction. Sibal submitted that Shinde cannot approach the EC once he has incurred disqualification, saying “I challenged the very locus of the person who moved the EC”.

Sibal clarified that Shinde has incurred disqualification as his various acts amounted to “voluntarily giving up membership of the party” under the Tenth Schedule, and he also violated the party whip, which is also covered by the Tenth Schedule.

The Thackeray camp vociferously argued that since disqualification of Shinde and the MLAs supporting him was pending, therefore EC cannot consider their application over the party and the symbol. However, the top court declined to entertain this contention.

Senior advocates Maninder Singh, Neeraj Kishan Kaul, and Mahesh Jethmalani, assisted by advocate Abhikalp Pratap Singh, argued for the Shinde faction.

Senior advocate Arvind Datar represented the Election Commission.

Shinde’s faction counsel argued that under Article 324 of the Constitution, the EC possesses plenty of powers to deal with any situation which arises in relation to political parties and several party members have sent their representations to the EC supporting the Shinde group.

Kaul submitted that the nature of enquiry under Tenth Schedule and the Symbols Order are different.

Shinde’s faction counsel claimed a hopeless minority sought to remove him from the party, and contended that the Speaker, under the Tenth Schedule, has to exercise power to determine disqualification of a member and he cannot decide on the split or merger within a political party. Shinde faction counsel vehemently argued that a party member’s right to move the EC cannot be taken away.

The EC counsel argued that it worked independently, and its functions are different when compared with the Speaker. The counsel added that it can decide who held the majority in the party.

Shinde and his faction had rebelled against Thackeray, which forced him to resign as Maharashtra Chief Minister.

Shiv Sena’s General Secretary Subhash Desai had moved the apex court saying that Shinde and other MLAs, have purportedly initiated proceedings under para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 (Symbols Order) seeking to be recognised as the “real Shiv Sena” by the EC. Desai added that they are also claiming the right to use the election symbol of “bow and arrow” allotted to Shiv Sena.

Thackeray faction claimed that since the disqualification matter is pending in the apex court, Shinde faction are trying to illegally cobble up numbers and fabricate an artificial majority in the organisation.

The apex court, on July 11, asked the newly appointed Maharashtra Assembly Speaker not to go ahead with proceedings on the disqualification petitions.

Maharashtra

Two youths drown in Mumbai’s Mahim creek

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Mumbai: Two people jumped into the Mahim creek in Mumbai, due to which they drowned. The search for them is on. Today at around 12:20 pm, Irshad Asif Sheikh, a transgender, aged 22, residing at Lal Mati, Nargis Dutt Nagar, Bandra (West), Mumbai, and Qalander Altaf Khan, aged 20, residing at Lal Mati, Nargis Dutt Nagar, Bandra (West), were standing between a bridge in Bandra. During this, they had an argument and one jumped into the creek while the other also jumped into the water to save him.

During the argument, Irshad jumped into the water and Qalander Khan jumped after him to save him. However, both drowned in the water.

The search operation is on, so far no trace of both has been found. Teams are searching for both.

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Maharashtra

Sameer Wankhede targeted in The Baddest of Bollywood; Delhi High Court orders removal of objectionable content from controversial series in defamation case

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Mumbai: The Mumbai-Delhi High Court has strongly criticized Red Chillies Entertainment Shah Rukh Khan, Gauri Khan and others in the defamation case against NCB Zonal Director IRS officer Sameer Wankhede and said that artistic freedom does not mean mocking a person. After this, the High Court has ordered that the controversial footage related to Sameer Wankhede be removed from the controversial Netflix series The Bads of Bollywood. Sameer Wankhede had filed a petition in the High Court and pleaded that his character has been killed in The Bads of Bollywood and this series has been made to target him. The purpose is to humiliate and mock Sameer Wankhede. After watching some parts of this series, the High Court has ordered the removal of the controversial parts from the film.

Sameer Wankhede’s lawyer had told the court that the character portrayed in the film is a comparison to Sameer Wankhede and that this series has been created with the intention of tarnishing Wankhede’s image. The Bads of Bollywood is malicious, therefore, the above-mentioned controversial scenes and objectionable dialogues should be deleted from the series, on which the court has issued an order to delete the controversial and objectionable content and content. Earlier, while hearing Sameer Wankhede’s petition, the court had sent notices to Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies, Netflix, Meta, and social media platforms and directed them to file a response. To this, Red Chillies had called the film and series a drama and made it clear that it had nothing to do with the facts. However, despite this, the Delhi High Court inquired whether a film drama does not mean that someone’s character is killed and said this, it reprimanded Shah Rukh Khan and the film company. Sameer Wankhede tried to prove through his argument that the character portrayed in the film resembles Sameer Wankhede and that this character has been portrayed in a negative way to target him and in this, an attempt has been made to make fun of Sameer Wankhede through this character, which has humiliated Wankhede, which the court has accepted and issued a directive to delete the objectionable and controversial content. This is a big success for Sameer Wankhede, while Shah Rukh Khan has suffered a huge setback.

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Maharashtra

Mumbai arms supplier arrested from Ghatkopar depot

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Mumbai: Police has claimed to have arrested an arms supplier from Ghatkopar Bus Depot who had come here to supply arms to Mumbai. The Mumbai Police Ghatkopar Anti-Gang Squad received information about this. The police laid a trap and took the accused into custody and recovered two country-made pistols and four live cartridges from his possession. During the investigation, the police asked him his name and he revealed his name as Ajay Kailash, a resident of Ujjain. The police have registered a case in this matter and started the investigation. Pantnagar Police has started the investigation in this matter to find out from where the accused had brought the arms to supply arms. This action was taken by DCP Rakesh Ola on the instructions of Mumbai Police Commissioner Deven Bharti.

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