Maha crisis: 53 Shiv Sena MLAs from both factions get show-cause notices

Maharashtra Legislature Secretary Rajendra Bhagwat has issued show-cause notices to 53 MLAs of both factions of Shiv Sena after receiving complaints from the two sides.

All MLAs are expected to respond within a week's time. 39 MLAs belong to the faction of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and 14 to Uddhav Thackeray group.

Bhagwat, on being asked about the show-cause notices to 53 Shiv Sena MLAs said, "Whenever we get any application, we have to act on it. So, notices have been issued to each MLA against whom there was an application."

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on July 4 won the floor test in the State Assembly on the last day of the two-day special session of the House. In the 288-member House, 164 MLAs voted for the motion of confidence, while 99 voted against it.

Three legislators abstained from voting, while Congress's Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar were among those absent during the trust vote. Speaker Rahul Narvekar announced that the trust vote was carried by a majority vote. After the death of a Shiv Sena MLA recently, the current strength of the Assembly is reduced to 287, thus the majority mark is 144.

Both sides have accused each other of defying the party whip during the Speaker's election and the trust vote on July 3 and 4, respectively, seeking disqualification of the legislators from both sides.

A day before the floor test, Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narvekar had recognised Gogawale as the Shiv Sena's chief whip, removing Sunil Prabhu, who belongs to the Thackeray faction.

On July 3, Rahul Narvekar of the BJP was elected Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly. He had polled 164 votes, and he defeated Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena candidate Rajan Salvi, who got 107 votes.

After the Maharashtra government won the trust vote in the state Assembly, Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde faction on Monday gave a petition to Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar for the suspension of 16 MLAs of the party belonging to Uddhav Thackeray's camp for violation of whip.

Bharat Gogawale, Chief whip of Shiv Sena's Eknath Shinde faction gave the petition to the Assembly Speaker.

The Speaker's office confirmed that 16 MLAs will be issued notice for suspension. Gogawale had also issued a whip to the party MLAs to remain present in the Vidhan Sabha for the floor test.

Shiv Sena chief whip Bharat Gogawale said, "We have given the notice to disqualify all the persons who defied our whip except Aaditya Thackeray. We have not given the name of Aaditya Thackeray due to respect towards Balasaheb Thackeray."

( With inputs from ANI )

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