Madan Dilawar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator, on Tuesday, filed two petitions in Rajasthan high court (HC), requesting disqualification of six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmakers, who had merged with the ruling Congress government in the state last year.
The six BSP members of Rajasthan legislative assembly (MLAs) who had merged with the Ashok Gehlot–led government are Sandeep Yadav, Tijara MLA, Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kishangarh Bas), LakhanMeena (Karauli), and Rajendra Gudha (Udaipurwati).
“Assembly Speaker CP Joshi had dismissed our plea without hearing our line of argument. This prompted us to move the HC against the Speaker’s decision. We have prayed before the court to disqualify the membership of the six BSP MLAs and pass an order that upholds justice and equality,” said Ashish Sharma, Dilawar’s counsel.
Also read: BSP to file plea in Rajasthan High Court tomorrow against merger of its MLAs with Congress
When Dilawar was asked why they had to file two petitions in the court, he said, “initially a communication was conveyed to me from the assembly secretariat in which they had given me a two-line answer that your petition in front of the speaker has been rejected. Later in the day, the assembly secretariat sent us a detailed two-page reply on the disqualification petition filed by me hence we amended the petition and filed a revised petition,” added Dilawar.
{{/usCountry}}When Dilawar was asked why they had to file two petitions in the court, he said, “initially a communication was conveyed to me from the assembly secretariat in which they had given me a two-line answer that your petition in front of the speaker has been rejected. Later in the day, the assembly secretariat sent us a detailed two-page reply on the disqualification petition filed by me hence we amended the petition and filed a revised petition,” added Dilawar.
{{/usCountry}}When Dilawar was asked on what grounds he had filed the petition of disqualification of six MLAs, he told that there has been no merger of the BSP into the Indian Nation Congress. Because even at present, the BSP is continuing as a recognized political party, both at the state as well as the national level.
“The BSP never merged with the Congress, therefore its legislatures have no right to merge with Congress or with any other political party. The six MLAs have voluntarily given up the membership of the BSP on whose ticket they were elected and have joined the Congress in violation of the provisions of law. Hence, they are liable to be disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India,” told Dilawar.
He further said that as per 10th Schedule of the Constitution, the condition of two-third MLAs accepting the merger is a second condition, not the first. The first is that the original political party of the legislature who are claiming merger should have merged with another political party. The six MLAs have no right to merge their original party with another political party.
“Also, the BSP remains as a separate political party at the national level as well as state level. Therefore, these MLAs cannot drive any benefit of the provisions of the 10th Schedule, even if all of them decided to merge with any political party,” Dilawar said.
Legal expert Akhil Chaudhary said, according to the law, the BSP legislature party “is independent and is not subordinate to its national presence or leadership”. The law also says “two-thirds of the members of the legislature party” are eligible to join another political party or form a separate party.
“Therefore, there is no question over the merger of the political party at a regional or national level. In our Constitution scheme, Vidhan Sabha is not subordinate to Parliament or any other house. The federal structure makes it independent, irrespective of multiple party systems. The merger is totally legal,” said Chaudhary.
The BSP will also file a petition on Wednesday that will challenge the merger of the six MLAs who had won Rajasthan assembly polls in 2018 on the party’s symbol.
“The merger of these six MLAs with Congress was unconstitutional. We are preparing a petition and will file a petition soon,” said Bhagwan Singh Baba, BSP’s Rajasthan president.
On Monday, the Rajasthan HC had disposed of the petition by Dilawar, who had questioned Speaker Joshi’s alleged inaction over the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Gehlot government last September.