Eknath Shinde seeks dismissal of Uddhav Thackeray camp's pleas; SC affidavit accessed

In a key development, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde filed a common reply to all the petitions filed by the Uddhav Thackeray camp in the Supreme Court. According to him, accepting the legal position put forth by Subhash Desai and Sunil Prabhu would result in a "minority tyranny" in a House, allow an anti-democratic and illegal government to continue in office and pave way for a CM who has lost the confidence of his own party to retain his post. Shinde sought the dismissal of the pleas on the ground that they are bereft of any merit. The SC bench headed by CJI NV Ramana will hear the case on August 3. 

Eknath Shinde argued, "Article 164 gives sole discretionary powers to the Hon’ble Governor to appoint the Chief Minister. The immunity of the Hon’ble Governor is absolute and beyond the writ jurisdiction of this Hon’ble Court. Therefore, appointment of Chief Minister by the Hon’ble Governor cannot be questioned before this Hon’ble Court through a Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India. This power, is subject to the Chief Minister proving his majority on the floor of the house, which admittedly the Respondent No. 4 has already proved through a completely valid floor test." 

"Any decision taken democratically and approved by a thumping majority of a Legislature Party is not to be interfered with by Courts. The Petitioner, through the present Petitions is trying to challenge the democratic decisions taken by the members of a democratic party out of their own free will. 26. The thumping majority in favour of Answering Respondent itself shows that his candidature as the Chief Minister has been supported by his own party," the plea added.

Eknath Shinde's reply on Uddhav Thackeray camp's petitions: 

Here are the pleas filed by both Shiv Sena factions:

1. Eknath Shinde and 15 other MLAs challenged the disqualification proceedings initiated against them and Shinde's replacement as the Legislative Party leader with Ajay Choudhari

2. Uddhav Thackeray faction's chief whip Sunil Prabhu sought a stay on the floor test scheduled for June 30.

3. A day after Eknath Shinde took oath as the CM of Maharashtra, Prabhu filed an interlocutory application seeking the interim suspension of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs until the final adjudication of the disqualification proceedings against them

4. Minutes before the vote of confidence on July 4, the Thackeray camp challenged newly-elected Speaker Rahul Narwekar's decision to reinstate Eknath Shinde as the Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader and replace Prabhu as the Chief Whip with Bharat Gogawale

5. On July 8, the Uddhav Thackeray camp challenged the decision of Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari to invite Shinde to form the government and sought the quashing of the Speaker's election and vote of confidence which was conducted on July 3 and 4 respectively