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Haryana: Independent MLA Ranjit Singh tenders his papers as MLA
Singh, who is a cabinet minister in the Nayab Singh Saini government, was on Sunday, fielded by the BJP from Hisar Lok Sabha constituency soon after he formally joined the saffron party in presence of BJP candidate from Sirsa Lok Sabha seat Ashok Tanwar, a former Congressman himself who had recently joined the BJP
Independent MLA from Rania in Haryana, Ranjit Singh, who joined the BJP on Sunday, submitted his resignation from the membership of the Haryana assembly on Tuesday to avoid disqualification on grounds of defection.
Legal experts though said that as per the law, Singh should have resigned as an MLA before joining the BJP. “It is an afterthought. He will be disqualified if the matter is referred to the speaker seeking his disqualification,’’ said a lawyer.
While speaker Gian Chand Gupta was incommunicado, BJP sources said that Gupta was yet to take a formal decision on the resignation letter.
As per Section 2 (2) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution (the anti-defection law), an elected member of a House who has been elected as such otherwise than as a candidate set up by a political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he joins any political party after such election. Officials said there was no clarity on whether he would continue as a minister after resigning from the membership of the assembly. Article 164(4) of the Constitution permits an individual who is not a member of the legislature to continue as a minister for six consecutive months.
Congress leader and former minister, Karan Singh Dalal said since the Election Commission (EC) is holding a byelection for Karnal assembly constituency, the EC should announce a bypoll for Rania assembly seat also.
Singh, who is a cabinet minister in the Nayab Singh Saini government, was on Sunday, fielded by the BJP from Hisar Lok Sabha constituency soon after he formally joined the saffron party in presence of BJP candidate from Sirsa Lok Sabha seat Ashok Tanwar, a former Congressman himself who had recently joined the BJP.
Ranjit Singh, who is the son of former deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal and younger brother of former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala is a former Congressman. He extended support to the BJP-JJP government after winning from Rania assembly seat in Sirsa in 2019 and was the only independent to have been inducted into the Manohar Lal Khattar-led Council of Ministers.
After Khattar resigned on March 12 along with his Council of Ministers, Singh was not only inducted again in Nayab Singh Saini-led Council of Ministers but he also retained the portfolios of energy and jails which were held by him in the Khattar government.
Ranjit Singh had contested the Lok Sabha election from Hisar in 1998 on Congress symbol and finished fourth polling 73,251 votes. In fact his security deposit was forfeited in the 1998 elections under the provisions of the Representation of the People Act as Singh polled less than one-sixth of the total number of valid votes polled by all the candidates.
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