Disqualification of legislators should be decided in 3 months: Rajya Sabha chairman

Petitions for disqualification should not be kept pending by presiding officers to save their membership or even to save the government, said Venkaiah Naidu.

Petitions seeking disqualification of legislators should be decided within three months and not be kept pending by presiding officers to save their membership or even to save the government, which enjoys majority only because of such types of persons, vice-president Venkaiah Naidu , who is also the Rajya Sabha chairman, has said.

Vice-president Venkaiah Naidu at the SRM University in Chennai. (PTI File Photo)

This was part of his speaking order on Monday, disqualifying Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar Ansari from membership of the Rajya Sabha (RS) for “voluntarily giving up the membership” of the Janata Dal (United).

After Nitish Kumar had joined hands with the BJP, these two leaders had launched a rebellion against him. Naidu said in his order that if a member of a political party starts criticizing the decision of his own party publicly and attends and addresses the rallies of rival political parties, it will fall under anti-party activity, thus inviting disqualification under the 10th Schedule.

The order about disposing of disqualification cases within three months assumes significance given the fact that such cases have been pending for months in many state assemblies. Naidu set the three-month timeframe to “effectively thwart the evil of political defections”.