E-Paper
Punjab Speaker accepts HS Phoolka’s resignation
The resignation was accepted five days after Phoolka had threatened to move the Supreme Court if no decision was taken on it quickly.
Punjab speaker Rana KP Singh on Friday accepted the resignation of Dakha MLA Harvinder Singh Phoolka from the membership of the state assembly.
The resignation was accepted five days after Phoolka had threatened to move the Supreme Court if no decision was taken on it quickly. Though he quit as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA in October 2018, it was not accepted because the resignation letter was not as per the “Rules of Procedure and Business” of the Punjab assembly, which prescribe a one-line format. “He (Phoolka) sent another resignation letter on August 4 and it has been accepted. The election commission will be informed about it,” said a Punjab assembly official.
The decision will pave the way for a byelection in Dakha assembly constituency along with Phagwara and Jalalabad seats, which have also fallen vacant as sitting legislators Som Prakash and Sukhbir Singh Badal were elected to the Lok Sabha in May this year. The byelections are expected to be held along with the state assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jharkhand in October this year.
The first-time MLA, a renowned lawyer, had tendered his resignation from the membership of the state assembly on October 12, 2018, voicing his unhappiness over the state government’s alleged “failure” to initiate action against former chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and retired director general of police Sumedh Singh Saini in sacrilege incidents and then followed up with a two-line resignation letter to the speaker at the personal hearing seven months ago. The official said both these letters were not found as per the prescribed format.
Phoolka, who also quit the AAP in January this year, said the issue on which he resigned from the state assembly is still valid. “What I had said in August 2018 has turned out to be correct as no action has been taken against the culprits of sacrilege till now. Today’s development will again bring the issue to the centre stage and mobilise public opinion,” he said in a statement after the speaker accepted his resignation. He also announced that he will hold a press conference in Chandigarh on Saturday on these issues.
Besides Phoolka, four other AAP legislators Sukhpal Singh Khaira, Baldev Singh, Nazar Singh Manshahia and Amarjit Singh Sandoa also quit the party in the past seven months. Barring Baldev, others also resigned from the membership of the state assembly. Their resignations and petitions for disqualification are pending before the speaker. According to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, a member can be disqualified if he or she voluntarily gives up membership of a party.
