Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) has told its 6 defected Lok Sabha MPs that, as a matter of record, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has not passed any order recognising any claim of their merger into Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. In a notice issued to the 6 MPs, Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant, who is the Sena (UBT)’s parliamentary party leader, said the Sena (UBT), being the original political party, has neither initiated, agreed to, nor permitted any merger with the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde, or with any other political party. Sawant said that in the absence of any merger of the original political party, there is no question of any merger of the legislature party. “Further, no such merger is permissible or contemplated in law. Sawant said the 10th Schedule to the Constitution of India merely affords the legislators an option to accept or reject a merger of the original political party; it does not confer upon the members of the legislature party any authority to themselves independently bring about, or effect, such a merger,” Sawant said in his letter.The notice points out that all these 6 MPs fought elections against the candidates fieleded by the Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde.“As you were aware, you were given a ticket by Shiv Sena (UBT) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The people of your constituency, reposing faith in the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, elected you through the name and symbol of Shiv Sena (UBT). It has come to our knowledge through reports in the public domain that you, along with certain other MPs, are attempting to portray that there is a ‘merger’ of Shiv Sena (UBT) with the Shiv Sena headed by Eknath Shinde. It is also learnt that you had approached the Lok Sabha Speaker claiming that you have merged recognition of this purported ‘merger’,” the notice states.“The independent legislative groups hold no legal standing without the original party’s consent. There is no provision in the constitution of India that the groups can be given a recognition. Anti-defection law itself doesn’t recognize such groups. Therefore we have served the notices to all the six members along with a copy of it to the Lok Sabha Speaker,” Sawant said.Last month, Sawant and Sena (UBT) MP Anil Desai had met Birla over the defection of 6 Sena (UBT) MPs to Eknath Shinde’s Sena. They told him that even if the rebel MPs are claiming to have two-thirds strength in the Lok Sabha, as per Schedule 10 of the Constitution, if the original party is being merged with any other party, then 2/3 of the strength of the legislature party must also lend its support to the merger. Only then the merger can happen.
