NEW DELHI, March 18 -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker's order disqualifying the six Congress rebels who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in the state.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued a notice to the office of Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania and sought its response within four weeks on a plea by the six rebels challenging their disqualification from the Assembly.

The bench said that pending adjudication of their plea, these disqualified MLAs will not be allowed to vote or participate in the proceedings of the assembly.

"We can issue notice on the petition, that's fine but there cannot be a stay (on the disqualification order). That will not be p...