Supreme Court hears crucial plea by Uddhav Thackeray against Guv's floor test order

Shiv Sena rebels, who have ignored Thackeray's appeals to return, have left Guwahati.

Team Thackeray has gone to the apex court with the argument that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari's order is illegal as 16 rebel MLAs are yet to respond on their possible disqualification.

Congress leader and senior lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi is representing  Thackeray's side. He argued that one-day notice is too short and that the no-trust vote is linked to the disqualification proceedings.

"The Governor's order to conduct floor test with supersonic speed amounts to putting the cart before the horse," he said, accusing him of  "short-circuiting" the Supreme Court proceedings.

This comes as Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari earlier in the day asked the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government to prove its majority by conducting the floor test in the next 48 hours.

The Governor's office issued a letter on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the rebel camp led by Eknath Shinde claimed to be the real Shiv Sena in the Supreme Court.

It said when a government loses the majority, there was a risk of it misusing the office of the Speaker for its benefit.

Speaking to reporters, Shinde said: "We will reach Mumbai tomorrow. 50 MLAs are with us. We've two-thirds majority. We are not worried about any floor test. We will pass the test and no one can stop us. In a democracy majority matters and we have that."

The floor test of will be telecast live, and the proceedings will be recorded on camera by the Vidhan Sabha Secretariat through an independent agency, the Governor said in his order.

"In order to ensure free and fair voting, it shall be conducted by asking members to rise in their seats for the purpose of counting votes..." Koshyari said.