The Maharashtra Legislative Assembly’s Secretariat has issued notices to legislators from Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). The notices are in response to disqualification petitions filed against them. The MLAs have been given a week to file their replies to the notices, which have been issued as part of the standard procedure in reply to the petitions, the Deputy Secretary of the legislature, Shivshankar Sathaye said.
Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar confirmed that notices have been issued to 40 Shiv Sena and 16 Sena (UBT) legislators. The development came a day after Narwekar said he had received a copy of the Shiv Sena’s constitution from the Election Commission of India.
Sena (UBT) approached SC to seek direction over disqualification
Earlier this week, the Sena (UBT) had approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the speaker to hear the disqualification petitions expeditiously. MLA Sunil Prabhu had, in his capacity as chief whip of the undivided Shiv Sena, filed the disqualification petitions against Shinde and 15 other MLAs after they rebelled and joined hands with the BJP to form the new government in June 2022. On May 11, the top court ruled that Shinde will continue to be the chief minister of Maharashtra. It cannot reinstate the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government headed by Uddhav Thackeray as the Sena leader chose to resign without facing a floor test in the wake of Shinde’s rebellion, the court said.
