Battleground 2024: Schisms in two alliances cloud Maharashtra poll outcome

Assembly Speaker Narwekar to issue order on the NCP split on January 31

Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar will issue an order on January 31 on the disqualification of MLAs of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) from the membership of the State’s Legislative Assembly. Earlier this month, he cleared the air on disqualification petitions filed by the two factions of Shiv Sena. With the two orders, the process of division of political parties in Maharashtra will be settled – at least for now. Parties, as voters know them, will no longer exist, leading to the formalisation of deep fissures in party politics.

In October last year, NCP leader Supriya Sule and Shiv Sena (Uddhav