Bombay High Court Halts Orders on Ambernath Municipal Council Alliances

Court's Intervention in Ambernath Political Alliances

On Monday, the Bombay High Court intervened by suspending the Thane district collector's decisions regarding the recognition and de-recognition of political alliances within the Ambernath Municipal Council.

A bench led by Justices Ravindra Ghuge and Abhay Mantri instructed the collector to issue a detailed order after consulting all relevant parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress, the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena.

During the proceedings, the court humorously noted the frequent party-switching of four NCP members, referring to them as 'globetrotting'.

Following the municipal elections on December 20, the local BJP formed an alliance with Congress to marginalize the Shinde Sena, which is part of the ruling coalition in Maharashtra. Although the Shinde Sena secured the most seats in the Ambernath council, no party achieved the majority of 31 seats independently.

The BJP successfully elected its candidate as the council chairperson.

Initially, a coalition comprising 14 BJP members, 12 Congress members, four from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP, and one Independent submitted a request to the Thane collector for recognition as an alliance. This coalition, named Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, was acknowledged as a pre-poll alliance on January 7.

However, following backlash, Congress suspended its 12 elected representatives, and BJP Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis instructed his party to dissolve the alliance with Congress.

On January 9, the four NCP members opted to support the Shinde Sena, prompting the collector to recognize this new alliance while de-recognizing the Ambernath Vikas Aghadi, which subsequently appealed to the High Court.

The Ambernath Vikas Aghadi argued that the collector's actions were unlawful, asserting that their coalition should be treated as a pre-poll alliance for all intents and purposes, including the formation of subject committees.

During the hearing, Justice Ghuge remarked on the shifting loyalties of the NCP members, questioning their stability: 'Today, these four individuals are with him [Eknath Shinde], yesterday they were with someone else. They are globe-trotting. What if tomorrow they align with another party?'

The court instructed all involved parties to present their positions to the collector by January 28 and mandated that he issue a ruling within 21 days. The collector's orders will remain inactive for two weeks, allowing affected parties to seek judicial recourse, as per the court's directive.

The court concluded by stating, 'Until then, the collector's communications (orders) of January 7 and 9 shall be kept in abeyance.'