Shiv-Sena UBT Moves Supreme Court Against Lok Sabha Speaker Approving Merger Of Its 6 MPs With Shinde Sena

Shiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray faction approached the Supreme Court on Tuesday (July 21) against Lok Sabha Speaker approving merger of its 6 Members of Parliament with the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The matter was mentioned by senior advocate Devadatt Kamat before a bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant seeking urgent listing of the plea. As the court asked about the urgency, Kamat said, "My functioning as a political party in the Parliament has come to absolute standstill. These MPs are not with me. The Speaker has recognized their merger with another party. And this is for this Parliament session". To which the court said, "Can't promise [listing tomorrow or Friday]. Will see". As per reports, ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had approved the merger of six Shiv Sena UBT MPs into the Eknath Shinde faction led Shiv Sena. The MPs are Sanjay Deshmukh (Yavatmal), Sanjay Jadhav (Parbhani), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbaj North East), Nagesh Patil-Ashtikar (Hingoli), Omprakash Rajenimbalkar (Dharashiv) and Bhausaheb Wakchaure (Shirdi).Shiv Sena UBT will now have only three MPs in the Lok Sabha.