Shiv Sena rebels get reprieve over disqualification notices from Supreme Court till July 12: All updates

Acting on Eknath Shinde's plea challenging the disqualification notices issued to him and 15 other rebel MLAs last week, the Supreme Court also extended the deadline given to the rebel MLAs to file their responses to the disqualification notices till July 12.

Earlier, they were asked to submit their replies by 5.30 pm on Monday.

Shortly after the court verdict, Shinde tweeted, "This is the victory of the Hindutva emperor Balasaheb Thackeray's Hindutva and the thoughts of Dharmaveer Anand Dighe Saheb ..!"

During the hearing, the Supreme Court asked the rebels' lawyer why they did not approach the Bombay High Court first, to which, advocate NK Kaul replied that the rebels' houses and properties are being threatened and the situation is not conducive for them to pursue their rights in Bombay.

The Uddhav Thackeray camp, meanwhile, contended that there should be no trust vote till the pending issues are decided and they should be free to approach the court if the rebels seek a floor test.

"Let us not create confusion on something for which there is no foundation today," responded the court.

In a separate plea filed in the Supreme Court on Monday, Eknath Shinde claimed a "serious threat" to the lives of the MLAs of his faction.

The Maharashtra government told the court that immediate steps will be taken to provide adequate security to the MLAs who have been served disqualification notices.

One of the two petitions contended that since the Shinde group had 32 MLAs and a majority, the disqualification plea was not maintainable. It further said the MLAs have not given up their memberships.

The notice was also not maintainable due to the fact that it challenged an act of the majority members, who in any case, had been acting on the instructions of the party leader and Chief Whip elected by the majority, noted the petition.

The plea alleged that the Deputy Speaker did not give the MLAs the required seven-day time to respond to the disqualification notice, but only 48 hours to reply, which was against the Disqualification Rules and the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Rules as well.

Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate on Monday served a summon to Sanjay Rautin in a money laundering case.

Raut responded with the charge that "this is a conspiracy to stop me".

Earlier in the day, the Shiv Sena MP had said that his party was ready for a "street fight and a legal battle".

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has also removed nine rebel ministers from their portfolios. "The portfolios of the rebel ministers were being handed over to other ministers for ease of administration," an official statement said.

Eknath Shinde had plunged the Maharashtra politics into crisis on June 21, after he, along with his MLAs, left Mumbai and reached Surat in Gujarat. The faction is currently housed in an Assam hotel.