Shiv Sena Split: Timeline of Maharashtra’s Political Crisis

Final hearing continues; no judgment yet Pending

The Supreme Court is hearing the Thackeray faction’s challenge to the Election Commission’s February 2023 order together with the challenge to the Speaker’s January 2024 ruling. LiveLaw reports the lead matter as Sunil Prabhu v. Eknath Shinde (LiveLaw). After Kapil Sibal and Devdutt Kamat argued for the Thackeray side, Neeraj Kishan Kaul finished for the Shinde faction, and Maninder Singh was due to follow on 14 October (Lokshahi).

On 28 October Dhruv Mehta, for the Shinde faction, argued that the disqualification appeal had become infructuous because the 14th Assembly’s term had ended, so the MLAs concerned are no longer members of that House. Maninder Singh defended the Election Commission’s legislative-majority test, arguing that an organisational test could not work for a party that had not held internal elections (LiveLaw).

The hearing was to continue on 29 October (ThePrint). As of 29 October 2026, no judgment or order deciding the case had been reported. The Court has not said when it will rule.

Bench asks why the symbol was not withheld from both sides Court

Justice Joymalya Bagchi asked why the Election Commission relied on the legislative-majority test without addressing a fourth option: refusing the reserved symbol to either faction. “If none of these tests appear to be strong, then what else? Why give a prize to one? Cancel it,” he said, while adding that withholding a symbol would be a “rarest of rare” step (LiveLaw).

A day earlier the bench had asked whether the “sentiment of the symbol” should operate in favour of people who committed the “constitutional sin” of defection (The Pioneer). For the Shinde faction, Neeraj Kishan Kaul argued that Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order fixes no single test, and that the Commission used legislative strength because the party’s constitution and organisational majority could not be relied on.

Justice Bagchi stressed that the Court would not substitute its own view on the merits. The question was whether the Commission had left a relevant option unaddressed.

Final hearing begins in earnest; Shinde side defends the test Court

Arguing for the Shinde faction in early September, Neeraj Kishan Kaul said Uddhav Thackeray had “significantly altered” the party structure in 2018, concentrating power in the party chief. He said the changes had not been placed on the Election Commission’s record. The hearing then continued on 15 September (The Pioneer).

The Shinde side’s case is that the Commission could not use the party’s organisational wing as a reliable measure, and so turned to elected legislators. The Thackeray side says that test was rejected by the Constitution Bench in 2023 as a weak guide in a split.

BMC results end decades of Sena control in Mumbai Election

The BJP won 89 wards and Shinde’s Shiv Sena 29, giving the alliance 118, four above the majority mark of 114. The Shiv Sena (UBT) won 65 and its ally, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, six (Business Today). The undivided Shiv Sena had won 84 wards in 2017.

Assembly election: Shinde 57, Thackeray 20 Election

The BJP-led Mahayuti alliance won a large majority. The BJP took 132 seats, Shinde’s Shiv Sena 57 of the 81 it contested, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP 41 (Deccan Herald). The Shiv Sena (UBT) won 20. Devendra Fadnavis returned as Chief Minister on 5 December 2024, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Ministers.

The result gave the Shinde faction a popular verdict to point to, but it did not decide the legal question. The Supreme Court still has to rule on whether the 2023 symbol order was lawful.

Lok Sabha election: the two Senas split the vote Election

In the first national election after the split, the Shiv Sena (UBT) won nine Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra and Shinde’s Shiv Sena won seven. The Thackeray faction contested as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP; the Shinde faction contested with the BJP.

Speaker rules the Shinde faction is the real Shiv Sena Assembly

Acting on the Supreme Court’s 2023 direction, Speaker Rahul Narwekar held that the Shinde-led group was the real Shiv Sena when the rival factions emerged on 21 June 2022 (Scroll; The Indian Express). He relied on the party’s 1999 constitution, which was on the Election Commission’s record, rather than the 2018 version the Thackeray side cited, and found that Shinde had 37 of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs.

He held that Bharat Gogawale had been validly appointed whip and that Sunil Prabhu had ceased to be whip. He rejected every disqualification petition, from both sides: “No MLA is being disqualified.” The Thackeray faction challenged the ruling in the Supreme Court; the Shinde faction separately went to the Bombay High Court over the dismissal of its petitions against 14 Thackeray-camp MLAs.

Constitution Bench verdict: Governor wrong, but no return for Thackeray Court

A five-judge bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justices M.R. Shah, Krishna Murari, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha ruled unanimously (judgment). It held that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari “was not justified” in calling for a floor test, because he had no objective material showing Thackeray had lost the House’s confidence. But “the status quo ante cannot be restored because Mr. Thackeray did not face the floor test and tendered his resignation.”

The Court held that the political party, not the legislature party, appoints the whip, and that the Speaker’s 3 July 2022 recognition of the Shinde camp’s whip was “contrary to law”. It left disqualification to the Speaker “within a reasonable period”. It said the Election Commission could apply the test “best suited” to the facts, and that the Speaker and Commission could proceed at the same time. It found the Governor was justified in inviting Shinde to form a government, and referred the 2016 Nabam Rebia ruling on Speakers facing removal notices to a seven-judge bench.

Election Commission gives the name and bow and arrow to Shinde Election Commission

The Commission recognised the Shinde-led faction as the Shiv Sena and allotted it the reserved bow-and-arrow symbol (The Indian Express). It relied mainly on the test of legislative majority, measured by the votes polled by the MLAs and MPs who backed each side. It found the party’s organisation could not be a reliable test, partly because the 2018 amendments to the party constitution had not been shared with it.

The Thackeray faction challenged the order in the Supreme Court. It continued as the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) with the flaming torch, both of which it had first received as an interim allotment in October 2022.

Symbol frozen; both factions get interim names Election Commission

With a by-election due in Andheri East on 3 November, the Commission froze the bow-and-arrow symbol and the Shiv Sena name on 8 October 2022 and barred both factions from using them. On 10 October it allotted the Thackeray faction the name Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the flaming torch, after rejecting its claim to the trident on religious grounds (Business Today). The Shinde faction received the name Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena.

New Speaker, a contested whip and a 164–99 trust vote Assembly

On 3 July the BJP’s Rahul Narwekar was elected Speaker. The same day his office reinstated Shinde as Shiv Sena legislature party leader and recognised Bharat Gogawale as chief whip, a decision the Supreme Court later called contrary to law. On 4 July the Shinde government won the trust vote 164–99 on a head count (Gulf News).

Eknath Shinde sworn in as Chief Minister Assembly

Eknath Shinde took oath as Chief Minister, with Devendra Fadnavis as Deputy Chief Minister. Fadnavis had written to the Governor that day saying the BJP’s MLAs backed a Shinde-led government. The Governor asked Shinde to prove his majority within seven days. The Supreme Court later held this invitation was justified.

Court refuses to stop the floor test; Thackeray resigns Assembly

Governor Koshyari directed Thackeray to prove his majority on 30 June. The Supreme Court declined to stay the floor test that evening. Thackeray announced his resignation on a live address the same night, before facing the vote (Wikipedia summary).

That choice later decided the outcome of the Constitution Bench case. Because he resigned without facing the House, the Court said in May 2023 that it could not reinstate him, even though it found the Governor had no proper basis to call the test.

Vacation bench gives rebels more time on disqualification Court

The Shinde camp challenged the Deputy Speaker’s disqualification notices, which had given 16 MLAs about two days to respond. A vacation bench of Justices Surya Kant and J.B. Pardiwala extended their time to reply to 12 July and asked the Deputy Speaker to explain his position on a pending notice seeking his own removal (The Indian Express).

The rebellion: Surat, then Guwahati Background

Cross-voting in the Legislative Council election on 20 June exposed the split. On 21 June Shinde and a group of MLAs were in Surat, Gujarat; the party replaced him as legislature party leader the same day. On 22 June the group moved to Guwahati in Assam. On 23 June 37 Shiv Sena MLAs, the two-thirds needed under the anti-defection law, signed a letter backing Shinde as their leader. On 24 June the Thackeray side petitioned the Deputy Speaker to disqualify 16 rebels (Wikipedia summary).

The rebels said the Shiv Sena had abandoned its ideology by allying with the Congress and the NCP. Thackeray’s supporters said the rebels had defected under pressure. Each side has continued to dispute the other’s account.

Uddhav Thackeray becomes Chief Minister at the head of the MVA Background

The BJP and Shiv Sena fought the 2019 election as allies. The BJP won 105 seats, the Shiv Sena 56, the NCP 54 and the Congress 44 in the 288-member Assembly. The allies then fell out over power-sharing. After a pre-dawn swearing-in of Devendra Fadnavis with Ajit Pawar on 23 November collapsed within days, Thackeray was sworn in on 28 November as head of the Maha Vikas Aghadi with the Congress and the undivided NCP.

The source brief attributes 105 and 54 to the Supreme Court; the Court’s own account gives the BJP 106 and the NCP 53 (judgment, para 2). The figures above are the declared results.

Bal Thackeray dies Background

The party’s founder died aged 86. Uddhav Thackeray, who had been the party’s working president since 2003, took over its leadership. Eknath Shinde, a Thane leader, rose through the party to become a senior minister, and was Urban Development Minister in the MVA government in 2022.

Bal Thackeray founds the Shiv Sena Background

Cartoonist Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in Bombay, six years after the city went to the new state of Maharashtra (see how the States Reorganisation Act redrew India’s map). It began as a movement for Marathi-speaking “sons of the soil”, later adopted Hindutva and allied with the BJP from the late 1980s.