Uddhav Thackeray-Led Maha Vikas Aghadi Govt Has Lost Majority: Eknath Shinde Tells SC

This comes as the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, moved the apex court against the disqualification notice issued against them.

New Delhi: Rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde in his petition filed before the Supreme Court on Monday said Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government has lost the majority in the house as 38 of the 55 legislators have withdrawn their support to the coalition, news agency Asian News International (ANI) reported.

This comes as the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, led by Shinde, moved the apex court against the disqualification notice issued against them.

Shinde camp has also challenged the rejection of the no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Narahari Zirwal.

Shinde in his plea stated that he is constrained to invoke the jurisdiction of this court under Article 32 of the Constitution challenging the “arbitrary and illegal” exercise of provisions of Members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on ground of Defection) Rules, 1986 by the deputy speaker which is completely violative of Article 14 and 19(1)(g) of the Constitution.

“The illegal and unconstitutional action of the Deputy Speaker insofar as recognising Ajay Choudhury as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party (SSLP) despite the said request being admittedly made by a minority faction of the SSLP. Further, the said Respondent No. 1 (Deputy Speaker), even after belonging to the minority faction of the SSLP, has also filed a Petition under Rule 6 of MLA Defection Rules seeking disqualification of the Petitioner under Para-2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India for which the Petitioner received a notice dated June 2, 2022,” the plea said, news agency Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

Earlier on Saturday, the Maharashtra legislature secretariat had issued summons to 16 of the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, including Shinde.

The Maharashtra legislature secretariat sought written replies by the evening of June 27 to the complaints seeking their disqualification.

Earlier on June 21, a sizable number of MLAs, led by Shinde, had rebelled against the Maharashtra Chief Minister. The rebel MLAs had first moved to Gujarat’s Surat city and then to Assam’s Guwahati – both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-ruled states.