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Haryana: Congress asks speaker to disqualify Choudhry as MLA
The Congress notice said that as per Section 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule pertaining to disqualification on ground of defection, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he or she has voluntarily given up his or her membership of such political party
A day after Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry quit the Congress, the party on Wednesday sent a communication to the assembly speaker seeking a notification or declaration to announce her disqualification from being a member of the House as per the anti-defection law. Choudhry joined the BJP on Wednesday morning following which deputy leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP) Aftab Ahmed and chief whip BB Batra sent a written notice on her disqualification to the Speaker in the evening.
The Congress notice said that as per Section 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule pertaining to disqualification on ground of defection, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he or she has voluntarily given up his or her membership of such political party.
‘Kiran has incurred disqualification, can’t be counted as a member of the House’
“Given that Kiran Choudhry was elected as a candidate of the Indian National Congress and has now voluntarily given up her membership by joining the BJP, she stands disqualified under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule. Choudhry has incurred a clear disqualification and cannot be counted as a member of the legislative assembly for any intent and purpose as on June 19, 2024. She is no longer a member of the House,’’ Ahmed and Batra wrote in the notice.
Quoting a Supreme Court judgment in Kihoto Hollohan case, the Congress leaders said, “Indeed in a sense an anti-defection law is a statutory variant of its moral principle and justification, underlying the power of recall. What might justify a provision for recall, would justify a provision for disqualification for defection. Unprincipled defection is a political and social evil. It is perceived as such by the legislature. The party made a prayer asking the speaker to make a suitable notification declaring Kiran Choudhry disqualified in terms of the Constitution.”
‘Congress should file a petition seeking disqualification’
Parliamentary affairs experts, however, said that instead of sending a notice to the Speaker to issue a notification declaring Choudhry disqualified, the Congress leaders should have filed a petition.
“The Haryana Legislative Assembly ( disqualification of members on grounds of defection) Rules framed in accordance with the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution clearly say that a petition should be filed before the Speaker for him to decide whether a member has become a subject of disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. A specific prayer should be made to the Speaker for disqualification of the member. The notification declaring that a member stood disqualified from the membership of the assembly comes later once the member is disqualified by the Speaker’s order,’’ said parliamentary affairs expert Ram Narain Yadav.
Yadav who is a former additional secretary of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, however, clarified that in the case of Ravi S Naik in 1994 and Dr Mahachandra Prasad Singh in 2004, the Supreme Court has held that on account of non fulfilment of requirements like an affidavit as required under the provisions of anti-defection rules, the petition would not be rendered invalid.
