The Speaker had also rejected the Thackeray faction's plea to disqualify 16 ruling camp MLAs, including Shinde. In his decision on the disqualification petitions on January 10, the Speaker had not disqualified any MLA.
Narvekar had said that no party leadership can use the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) to suppress internal dissent or indiscipline. The Speaker had said that when the party split in June 2022, the Shinde group had the support of 37 out of the total 54 MLAs of the party. The Election Commission had handed over the name '
Shiv Sena' and 'bow and arrow' target to the Shinde-led faction in early 2023.