Sena vs Sena: What is a whip and what happens when party members defy it?

The Uddhav Thackeray versus Eknath Shinde fight in Maharashtra is far from over. Both the Shiv Sena factions – one led by the party president and the other by the state chief minister – are doing all they can to stake claim to the party, issuing whips to each other. The Shinde faction has now issued a petition to the newly elected speaker Rahul Narwekar to suspend 16 MLAs from the Thackeray side for defying the whip to support the government. However, former minister and Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya’s name was kept out. Bharat Gogawale, the new chief whip of the Shinde camp, said it was out of “respect” for party founder Bal Thackeray, reported news agency ANI. “We have given notices to disqualify all the MLAs who defied our whip; have not given (Aaditya Thackeray’s name due to our respect for Balasaheb Thackeray,” Gogawale told ANI.

On Sunday, both the factions issued separate whips for the election of the Maharashtra speaker and accused each other of disobeying their respective whips. The group leader of the Thackeray MLAs Ajay Choudhari had issued a whip to all MLAs asking them to vote for their Assembly Speaker candidate Rajan Salvi, while Gogawale had issued a whip to the MLAs to vote in favour of BJP’s Narwekar. The Shinde-led group says that they are the real Shiv Sena since they have the support of two-thirds of the party MLAs. What is a whip? A whip is a written order issued to a party that members be present at a crucial vote or that they vote for a particular candidate. In India, all political parties issue whips to members and often appoint a senior member for the task. This member is called the chief whip and they are assisted by additional whips. Where did the term originate from? Like many Indian laws and political practices, this one too is influenced by the British. In the UK parliament, “whipping in” lawmakers to toe the party line is part of the old system. The use of the word “whip” has its roots in the 18th-century British hunting terminology “whipper-in”. It refers to a huntsman’s assistant who drives straying hounds back to the main pack using a whip, according to the UK Parliament website. What are the kinds of whips? There are three types of whips or orders issued by a political party – one-line, two-line or three-line whip. This refers to the number of times a direction is underlined. A three-line whip is the strongest. A one-line whip is issued to inform members of a party about a vote and allows them to abstain in case do not want to toe the party line. While a two-line whip is an instruction to party members to be present in the House at the time of voting, a three-line whip is issued directing them to vote as per the party line. The latter is employed on important occasions like a trust vote. The whips issued by both the factions of the Shiv Sena were a three-line one. What happens if a whip is defied? A legislator may be disqualified from the party for disobeying a whip, especially the three-line whip. The anti-defection law allows the speaker/chairperson to disqualify a defiant member. The exception is when more than a third of the legislators vote against a party directive, which effectively leads to a split like in the case of the Shiv Sena. Are there limitations to whips? During the Presidential elections, party whips cannot direct an MP or MLA to vote in a particular fashion, reports Business Standard. What is the role of the chief whip? The chief whip is tasked with enforcing the organisation’s disciple in the Legislative Assembly or Parliament. He is an important office-bearer of the party. At the 18th All India Whips’ Conference held in Udaipur in 2018, then Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said that the duty of a whip is not only to monitor the members of his or her respective party in the legislature but also to moderate and motivate them. With inputs from agencies Read all the Latest News , Trending News ,  Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .