Overview
- The Lok Sabha Secretariat circular of July 18 recorded the Speaker's approval that six MPs elected on Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena ticket had merged with the Eknath Shinde-led group, cutting Shiv Sena (UBT) from nine MPs to three and raising the Shinde tally to 13.
- The Uddhav-led faction moved the Supreme Court and the court on Wednesday issued notices to Speaker Om Birla, the Joint Secretary who signed the circular and the six MPs but declined to grant an interim stay of the circular, listing the matter for fuller hearing in roughly two weeks.
- UBT argues the six MPs cannot unilaterally claim a merger without the parent party's consent, notes no disqualification proceedings were pending, and says the circular signed by a Joint Secretary lacks lawful basis under Paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule.
- The six MPs and Shinde's camp defend the move as lawful and tied to constituency development, and the recognition immediately strengthened the NDA's Lok Sabha arithmetic for business during the Monsoon Session.
- Separate petitions, including one by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, ask the Supreme Court to re-examine how Paragraph 4 is interpreted, a ruling that could change how the anti-defection law treats party mergers and affect voter mandate and party identity.