The 40 members of the Legislative Assembly led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday filed their individual replies running into thousands of pages to the disqualification notice issued by Speaker Rahul Narwekar.
Shiv Sena faction MLA and party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat said, “Every MLA has filed a separate reply of 6,000 to 6,500 pages. The replies were sent in a tempo,” he said.
On June 21, 2022, Mr. Shinde, leader of the Shiv Sena in the Maharashtra Assembly, suddenly left Mumbai with many Sena MLAs for Surat. This rebel group later went to Guwahati. Following this, disqualification proceedings were issued against the first batch of 16 MLAs and a notice was issued against them. This group was granted 48 hours’ time to respond to the said notice. The next day, the said group led by Mr. Shinde filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the proceedings against the 16 MLAs.
On May 11, 2023, the Supreme Court on deciding petitions by Shiv Sena leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Mr. Shinde had said it cannot adjudicate petitions for disqualification by the MLAs under the Tenth Schedule. The apex court had said the Speaker shall recognise the whip and the leader who are duly authorised by the Shiv Sena.