Live streaming of arguments for first time: Setback for Thackeray camp

The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court allowed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide on Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s claim that his faction represents the ‘real’ Shiv Sena party

For the world of judiciary and for the law-abiding citizens, it was indeed a historic moment on Tuesday, September 27, when the Supreme Court live streamed the proceedings before three of its constitution benches for the very first time today. The livestream was available on various platforms. The National Informatics Centre is handling the project.

The first three cases to be live streamed included one about the Maharashtra political crisis, Economically Weaker Section quota case, and the case related to the validity of the All-India Bar Examination.

The verdict to live stream proceedings of all constitution bench hearings was delivered on September 27, 2018.The then CJI Dipak Misra-led three-judge bench had agreed to live telecast the proceedings in a phased manner.

As regarding the Shiv Sena case, the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court allowed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide on Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s claim that his faction represents the ‘real’ Shiv Sena party. Uddhav Thackeray camp’s plea to stay the proceedings under the Election Symbols(Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968 was dismissed by the Bench led by Justice D Y Chandrachud. Thackeray’s side was represented by senior advocates Kapil Sibal, Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Devadatt Kamat and advocate Amit Anand Tiwari.

Following a revolt by Eknath Shinde and 39 other legislators, the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government had collapsed leading to Shinde becoming the chief minister and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis being the deputy chief minister on June 30.

On August 23, the Supreme Court had referred the petitions filed by Thackeray and the Shinde-led factions to the five-judge bench. It had also asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) not to pass any order on the Shinde faction’s plea that it be considered as the ‘real’ Shiv Sena and be granted the party’s poll symbol.