Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari will soon decide on a petition filed against MLA Latabai Sonawane, who is in Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's camp and faces the threat of being disqualified for submitting a false tribal claim certificate. Sonawane, who represents Chopda (ST) Assembly constituency in Jalgaon district, claims to belong to Tokre Koli Scheduled Tribe, but this claim was invalidated by the Scheduled Tribe Certificate Scrutiny Committee, Nandurbar on February, 9, 2022. She challenged the committee's decision in the Bombay High Court, but the Aurangabad bench dismissed her writ petition on June 10, 2022. Sonawane's Special Leave to Appeal before the Supreme Court was also dismissed on September 9, 2022. On Monday, Sushilkumar Pawra, president of Birasa Fighters (a tribal organisation), a petitioner against Sonawane, filed a petition under Article 192 of the Constitution before Koshyari. Bhushan Mahajan, Pawra's advocate, said they have approached the Governor on the ground that "Sonawane has played fraud upon the Constitution by furnishing false Scheduled Tribe Certificate" in order to contest election from a constituency reserved for members of Scheduled Tribe. "Moreover, Sonawane’s disqualification under Article 191(1) is a pre-election disqualification, therefore, the election of Sonawane based on the false Scheduled Tribe Certificate is void-ab-initio (having no legal effect since inception) and is liable to be disqualified under Article 192," he said. According to Article 192, the question of disqualification shall be referred to the Governor and his decision shall be final. It also says the Governor shall obtain the opinion of the Election Commission and act accordingly. When contacted, Koshyari's office confirmed it has received the petition. "We expect the Governor's office to take the decision at the earliest. All courts, including the Supreme Court, have accepted that the MLA submitted a false caste certificate. We demand that the MLA be disqualified," said Pawra. When contacted, Sonawane said her husband Chandrakant would comment on the legal issues concerning her caste certificate. "We are going to file a review petition in the Supreme Court in the coming three to four days," said Chandrakant Sonawane. When asked if that was the reason the MLA switched sides from Thackeray's Sena to the Shinde camp, he said the issue is not new.
