The plea has been filed through party general secretary Subhash Desai, who has stated in the petition that since the rebel lawmakers have not yet merged with any other party, they shall be disqualified
The Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav Thackeray has petitioned the Supreme Court against Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision to invite Eknath Shinde to form the state government, sources said.
It has also challenged the assembly proceedings on Monday, during which the new Maharashtra Chief Minister aced through the floor test. The Thackeray camp claimed the floor test was illegal because it included 16 MLAs who are facing disqualification.
The plea has been filed through party general secretary Subhash Desai, who has stated in the petition that since the rebel lawmakers have not yet merged with any other party, they shall be disqualified, the sources said.
The court has agreed to hear the plea on July 11.
Last month, Shinde had launched a rebellion against the Sena and majority of the party MLAs sided with him, which led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state led by Uddhav Thackeray. Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30 and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis had taken oath as the deputy CM. Both the Uddhav and Shinde groups claim to be the original Shiv Sena, but the Election Commission will make the final decision in this regard.
Sources added that the Uddhav camp will be presenting the plea before the Supreme Court bench at 10:30 AM.
The Governor’s order on June 28 had come after BJP leaders, including Devendra Fadnavis, met with him and urged him to ask the Thackeray-led government to prove its majority in the Assembly, claiming that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government appeared to be in minority.
On June 30, Eknath Shinde took oath as Maharashtra Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis as his deputy, capping the BJP’s coup that deposed Uddhav Thackeray. Four days later, his camp received 164 votes in the 288-member assembly, far exceeding the 144-vote simple majority threshold. Only 99 legislators voted against it.
