BREAKING| Supreme Court To Hear On July 11 Shiv Sena's Plea To Suspend Eknath Shinde & 15 MLAs Till Decision On Their Disqualification

Shiv Sena Chief Whip Sunil Prabhu has filed an application in the SupremeCourt seeking suspension from house of new Maharashtra Chief Minister EknathShinde and 15 other MLAs against whom disqualification petitions have been filed, till a final decision is taken on their disqualification.

A vacation bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala agreed to consider the application on July 11, along with the main petitions, after an urgent mentioning was made by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal today morning.

"After June 29 order, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Chief Minister. There is no merger. How are you going to control the house? Whose whip is to be followed? The moment he is sworn in, he has incurred disqualification under para 2. He is not the party", Sibal submitted.

"This is not the dance of democracy", he added.

"Mr.Sibal, we are conscious of the issue. We have not shut our eyes. We will consider on July 11", Justice Kant said.

The plea has been moved as an interlocutory application in the writ petitions filed by Eknath Shinde and 15 rebel MLAs challenging the disqualification proceedings initiated by the Deputy Speaker. On June 27, a bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala had granted relief to Shinde group by extending the time for responding to the Deputy Speaker's notices till July 12. Two days later, the Governor ordered a floor test in the assembly for the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government led by Uddhav Thackeray. Though the Governor's direction was challenged by Shiv Sena, the Supreme Court refused to stay it on June 29. Following that, Uddhav Thackeray announced his resignation. Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the new Chief Minister yesterday.

It is argued in the new application that despite the rebellion carried out by the Eknath Shinde faction, the original Shiv Sena political party remains under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. The applicant contends that the delinquent MLAs acted as the "pawns of the BJP" and since they committed the "constitutional sin of defection", they should not be allowed to participate in the house even for a single day.

"The conduct of the Petitioners(Shinde and 15 others), both individually and cumulatively leads to the unimpeachable conclusion that they have engaged in anti-party activities and as such deserve to be disqualified as Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly on account of attracting Para 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution", the plea states.

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