Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde is among the 54 MLAs who have been issued notices by Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar on Saturday, seeking their replies on disqualification petitions against them, reports PTI.
Notices have been issued to 40 MLAs of Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 14 of the Uddhav Thackeray faction, and the legislators have been given seven days to file their reply, the Speaker said.
The notice was not issued against Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Rutuja Latke who was elected after the Shiv Sena split last year.
The development comes a day after Narwekar said that he has received a copy of the Shiv Sena’s constitution from the Election Commission of India, and that hearing on the disqualification petitions against 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, including CM Shinde would start soon.
Earlier this week, the Shiv Sena faction led by Uddhav approached the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Assembly Speaker to hear the disqualification petitions expeditiously.
Earlier, the apex court on May 11 ruled in favour of Eknath Shinde saying he will continue as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, and added that 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.
