SC refuses to stay EC order recognising Shinde faction as real Shiv Sena
New Delhi, Feb 22: The Supreme Court Wednesday refused to stay the Election Commission order recognising the Eknath Shinde-led bloc as the real Shiv Sena and issued a notice to the group headed by the Maharashtra chief minister on the plea of the rival Uddhav Thackeray camp challenging the poll panel's decision.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud took note of the submissions of senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Thackeray, and sought response of the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Shinde.
The counsel for the Shinde faction told the bench, also comprising Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, that it will not issue any whip or initiate process to disqualify the lawmakers of the Thackeray faction in the meantime.
"All right, issue notice. The counter affidavit will be filed within two weeks," the bench said.
While issuing notice, the bench, however, refused to stay the decision of the poll panel acknowledging the Shinde faction as the real Shiv Sena, saying it cannot be done without hearing the other side.
The top court had on Tuesday agreed to hear the plea of the Thackeray camp against the Election Commission's decision.
Besides recognising the Shinde-led bloc as the real Shiv Sena, the poll panel had also ordered allotment of the party's original 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
