The Maharashtra political crisis has reached the Supreme Court with two separate petitions filed by Eknath Shinde group challenging the appointment of Ajay Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader and the disqualification notices issued by the deputy speaker of Maharashtra Assembly to 16 rebel Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

The matter has been listed for hearing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and JB Pardiwala.

While one of the petitions has been filed by Shinde, the other has been filed by the remaining 15 MLAs led by MLA Bharat Gogawale.

The petition has sought the following reliefs:

• Stay on the Deputy Speaker's notice on the disqualification petition filed against Shinde and 15 others;

• Direction to the Deputy Speaker to not take any decision on the disqualification petition, till the resolution of removal of Deputy Speaker is decided; and

• Quashing the order of the Deputy Speaker recognizing Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader.

• Directions to the Centre and Maharashtra Director General of Police to provide security to the family of the dissident MLAs.

Shinde group has challenged the disqualification notice summoning the 16 MLAs to appear on June 27, 2022 on the following grounds:

• That the disqualification petition is not maintainable as Shinde's faction enjoys majority support from the Shiv Sena party and they have not given their memberships;

• The notice not maintainable as it challenges an act of the majority members who in any case have been acting on the instructions of the party leader and chief whip elected by the majority;

• Action of the Deputy Speaker is hand in gloves with the Maha Vikas Aghadi government;

• The Deputy Speaker did not grant the parties 7 days to reply and instead only granted 48 hours to respond to the disqualification notice which is against the Disqualification Rules and the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules;

• There is a no-confidence motion pending seeking removal of Deputy Speaker and as per the 2016 judgment in the case of Nabam Rebia and Bamang Felix v Deputy Speaker Arunachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly & Ors the deputy speaker is ineligible to decide any disqualification petition till the pending motion is decided.

The plea also sought security to the family of the petitioner and supporters of the dissident MLAs after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government allegedly withdrew security to the families of the MLAs.

"Not only the security of our families and relatives have been compromised by removing the security personnel but also there is an ongoing agenda wherein various leaders of the MVA government are instigating the cadres of their respective parties to take up violence to further intimidate us," the plea highlighted.

The petition has also challenged the order of the Deputy Speaker recognizing Ajay Choudhari as Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader on the ground that Choudhari has been declared as SSLP despite him belonging to the minority faction of Shiv Sena.

Instead, Gogawale who had been selected as Legislature Party leader by Shinde's majority faction ought to have been considered, it was contended.

Maharashtra has been embroiled in political turmoil after Shinde along with rebel MLAs left the State and have been camping in Assam's Guwahati for the past few days.

Shinde group has expressed its displeasure with the alliance by Shiv Sena with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.

It has claimed that it stands for the cause propounded by founder Balasaheb Thackeray and has named itself ‘Shiv Sena (Balasaheb)'.