BSP rebels to stay separate, says SC

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed that part of the Allahabad High Court order asking the UP Assembly Speaker to decide afresh the issue of disqualification arising out of the breaking away of 37 BSP members, who later joined the Samajwadi Party .

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed that part of the Allahabad High Court order asking the UP Assembly Speaker to decide afresh the issue of disqualification arising out of the breaking away of 37 BSP members, who later joined the Samajwadi Party.

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The apex court also said that in the interim, the 37 ‘rebel’ BSP members could sit as a separate group in assembly and would, thus, not be subject to the whips of either the SP or BSP. “The Speaker’s order of September 6, 2003 is valid to the extent to which it recognised them as a separate group,” it said.

Furthermore, the SC Bench directed that the matter be placed before a Constitution bench in view of the important constitutional issues arising out it.

The court was acting on SLPs filed against the HC order by both the BSP and the BSP rebels who’d formed the Loktantrik Bahujan Dal and later joined the SP.

The Allahabad HC had on February 28, 2006 struck down the Speaker’s order recognising their new oufit and their merger with the SP, and had asked the Speaker to decide the issue of their disqualification afresh.

Appearing for the ‘rebels’, senior counsel Harish Salve argued for a stay on the HC order, saying “uncertainty” over these “floating” members wouldn’t be good for anybody. Counsel for the BSP strongly opposed this.