The Supreme Court on Monday scheduled a hearing in August for a plea filed by the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction, challenging the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker’s decision to grant the "bow and arrow" party symbol to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi noted that the case had been pending for a long time and that the ongoing uncertainty could not be allowed to persist.

“We will schedule the matter in August for final resolution,” the bench informed senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the Thackeray group. Sibal urged the court to fast-track the case, especially with local body elections approaching in Maharashtra. Senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul, representing the Shinde camp, pointed out that the court had previously declined to grant an urgent hearing on the issue. Sibal countered that the Speaker’s 2023 decision to award the party symbol based on legislative strength contradicted a prior ruling by a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court.

Justice Kant said the court would later announce the exact hearing date to avoid scheduling conflicts with other cases. Earlier, on May 7, the court had told the Thackeray faction to focus on the local elections after it requested an urgent hearing. The court then deferred the case to be taken up after the summer break. On January 10, 2024, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar dismissed the Thackeray faction’s plea to disqualify 16 MLAs from the ruling group, including CM Shinde. In their appeal to the Supreme Court, the Thackeray group argued that the Speaker’s orders were “unlawful and irrational” and claimed the decision rewarded defectors instead of penalizing them, wrongly recognizing them as the legitimate party.

The petition also stated that the Speaker had erred by equating legislative majority with representing the true essence of the political party. None of the MLAs from either camp were disqualified in the Speaker’s verdict, solidifying Shinde’s position as chief minister—18 months after he led a rebellion against Thackeray—and strengthening his influence within the BJP-NCP coalition ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Shinde’s faction secured 7 seats, while in the assembly polls, they won 57. The BJP emerged stronger with 132 seats, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP faction claimed 41. By December 2024, Devendra Fadnavis returned as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, with Shinde and Pawar serving as deputy chief ministers.