Thread by @the_hindu

Maharashtra crisis live updates | Dissident #ShivSena leader #EknathShinde on Wednesday stepped out of Radisson Blu hotel here, where he and other rebel Maharashtra MLAs are camping since June 22, and visited Kamakhya temple to seek blessings.
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Just in | #MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis: Rebel Sena MLAs to be moved to Goa from Guwahati | @alokdesh reports

#ShivSena approached Supreme Court against Governor's direction asking the State government to prove majority on June 30. The matter will be heard at 5 p.m. | @alokdesh reports

"Uddhav Thackeray ready to leave 40 MLAs of his own party, CM's official residence 'Varsha', but not ready to leave (NCP chief) #SharadPawar. We have done a lot for the party and Mr.Thackeray," says rebel Sena MLA Gulabrao Patil. | @ShoumojitB reports

The flight is expected to leave #Guwahati's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport for #Goa's Dabolim airport at around 3 p.m., sources said.
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#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | ‘Floor test cannot be held when the disqualification proceedings against several MLAs are pending,’ says senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, for Thackeray loyalist Sunil Prabhu | @kdrajagopal reports
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@kdrajagopal .#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | #EknathShinde along with rebel MLAs visit Kamakhya Temple in Guwahati before leaving for Goa | Video: Special Arrangement

@alokdesh reports

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"All MLAs prayed at Kamakhya Devi temple for the public of Assam to get relief from floods. As a token of goodwill, we have donated Rs 51 lakh to flood-afflicted people of Assam," says Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar, spokesperson for #EknathShinde rebel camp.

The MLAs will be leaving for Goa shortly, reports @ShoumojitB

"We are not worried about the floor test. We will pass it. We have the numbers. This is a Shiv Sena which will take forward the ideals of 'Hindutva' and those of Balasaheb Thackeray," says #ShivSena rebel camp leader #EknathShinde before leaving Guwahati | reports @ShoumojitB

Supreme Court to hear #ShivSena ’s ‘urgent petiton’ against floor test today

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#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis Floor test hearing begins. Sr adv AM Singhvi for Thackeray camp: 2 NCP MLAs down with COVID. 2 Congress MLAs abroad. Floor test called at supersonic speed. Floor test determines who is majority, who is to govern, reports @kdrajagopal

Singhvi: Holding floor test before determining question of disqualification is like plunging into a pool without determining the size of the pool. Putting the cart before the horse. First, the question who has committed the constitutional sin (of defection) has to be determined

Singhvi: Governor cannot short-circuit the SC's proceedings or the Speaker's disqualification proceedings, reports @kdrajagopal

J. Surya Kant: Is there a bar on holding fresh floor test in another 15 days if situation again changes. How is holding a floor test connected with the SC's pending determination of the Deputy Speaker's competence to adjudicate disqualification, reports @kdrajagopal

J. Kant: There are cases in which the Speaker has already taken the decision of disqualification. Here, the very competence of the Speaker is in question. Is it your case that even in this case there should be a presumption of deemed disqualification?@kdrajagopal reports

J. Kant: We had intervened in this case because there is an exceptional situation involved here. The Deputy Speaker is himself facing removal notice. The notice questions his authority to adjudicate the disqualification petition against the dissident MLAs, @kdrajagopal reports

Singhvi: The dissidents who are no longer members of the House are being allowed to swim in a pool in which he does not belong. He is being allowed to swim in the pool with irreversible consequences, @kdrajagopal reports

Singhvi: This is like allowing a person from the street being allowed to vote in the floor test

Singhvi : There is undue haste and hurry. Governor has to act on the aid and advise of the Chief Minister. He cannot act on the aid and advise of the Leader of Opposition.

Singhvi: The conduct of the rebel MLAs makes it evident they have given up party membership. The letter 34 MLAs wrote to the Governor complaining about the party amounts to voluntarily giving up party membership, reports @kdrajagopal

Singhvi: If heavens will not fall if the disqualification proceedings have been put on hold till July 12, how will heavens falls if the floor test is not held tomorrow? | reports @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Singhvi: Lordships have to maintain a balance. Either lift the fetter on the Speaker and allow him to go ahead with the disqualification proceedings or keep the floor test in temporary abeyance. | @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Senior Advocate Neeraj Kaul for Shinde faction says the floor can never ever be delayed. Proceedings of disqualification cannot delay floor test. Disqualification should be decided, but these MLAs continue to remain part of the House. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: Question of disqualification does not have any bearing in the conduct of the floor test. A reluctance of the Chief Minister to face the floor of the House prima facie shows he has lost the majority. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Justice Kant: The Governor may be competent to call for a floor test, but the question posed by the other side is who are the members competent to participate in the floor test. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: The CM's faction is a hopeless minority within the party itself. I have seldom seen a party so afraid to face a floor test. Usually, the governing faction will come forward to hold the floor test to prove their strength. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: Singhvi is trying to relate two things which remain into two completely different constitutional spheres. He cannot relate disqualification proceedings and the Speaker's competence with the conduct of floor test. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: The more you delay a floor test, the more you damage the constitutional spirit. Floor test is the sure remedy to horse-trading. Why are they shying away from the floor test? @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: Calling for floor test is entirely the Governor's discretion. Is the Governor's call for floor test so perverse in this case that it requires judicial intervention? @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Justice Kant: We have asked this question before. Can a government, knowing it is in minority, use the Speaker's office to issue disqualification notices en masse? @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Kaul: Not holding the floor test is the antithesis of democracy. @kdrajagopal

Advocate Kaul: What kind of an argument did Singhvi make that Governor recovered from COVID only two days back and did not verify the letter from the 34 MLAs before calling for floor test...is he saying that the Governor should hold back and allow the State to burn? @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Senior Advocate Maninder Singh for dissidents' camp: Calling for floor test does not require the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Advocate Singh: Supreme Court only followed the principles of natural justice to give the 16 dissident MLAs time to respond...That order cannot freeze the hand of the Governor to call for a floor test. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Justice Kant: Suppose floor test is held. Later it comes to a turn that the process which evolved into the floor test was unconstitutional, we can intervene. It is not an irreversible situation. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for Governor Koshyari: It is not the Supreme Court which has interdicted the Deputy Speaker (to adjudicate disqualification proceedings against dissidents), it is the law which has interdicted him. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Solicitor General Mehta argues the objective to issue disqualification notices through the Speaker is to cover the fact that the government is in minority. @kdrajagopal

Mehta: Deputy Speaker gave two days' notice to the Shinde faction to respond to disqualification notice. The same person now complains that only one day has been given before floor test. There are many cases in which the SC has ordered floor test in 24 hours. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Solicitor General Mehta: Majority cannot be determined in the Raj Bhavan but on the floor of the House where everybody can see. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Arguments conclude. Judges leave for their chambers for deliberations. To reassemble for passing orders at 9 p.m. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Supreme Court refuses to stay the floor test in Maharashtra Assembly on June 30. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Supreme Court however issues notice on Sunil Prabhu's writ petition challenging the legality of the process of calling for floor test. To hear along with Shinde's plea on July 11. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | The floor test proceedings tomorrow will be subject to final outcome of the case in the Supreme Court. @kdrajagopal

#MaharashtraPoliticalCrisis | Jailed ministers #NawabMalik and #AnilDeshmukh allowed by Supreme Court to participate in the floor test. @kdrajagopal