Lok Sabha Speaker clears merger of six Uddhav‑led Shiv Sena MPs into Shinde faction

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla approved the merger of six MPs who had left the Uddhav Thackeray‑led Shiv Sena (UBT) and joined the Eknath Shinde‑led faction. The decision raises the Shinde faction’s strength in the Lok Sabha to 13 members, leaving the Uddhav faction with three. The Speaker said the move complies with the anti‑defection law, which allows a two‑thirds majority of a party’s legislators to merge with another party.

In the same order, the Speaker granted separate seating to 20 Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who have broken away and affiliated with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI); their formal recognition as a parliamentary group is still pending. Both decisions were taken just before the Parliament’s Monsoon Session, altering the composition of the lower house.

Shiv Sena leaders supporting Shinde praised the ruling as a victory for progressive politics, while the Uddhav‑led camp called it a major setback. Eknath Shinde said the six MPs joined to accelerate development in their constituencies. Opposition figures, including Congress MP Shashi Tharoor and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, condemned the merger as weakening democracy and a betrayal of principle.