14 Disqualified Rebel Congress-JDS MLAs Move SC Against Disqualification

Fourteen rebel Congress-JDS MLAs on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging their disqualification as legislators from Karnataka Assembly.

The Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy crumbled under the weight of a rebellion by a big chunk of its lawmakers. Photo: PTI (Representational)

BENGALURU: Fourteen rebel Congress-JDS MLAs on Thursday moved the Supreme Court challenging their disqualification as legislators from Karnataka Assembly. The 14 MLAs had remained absent from the House on July 23, when then Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy put the confidence motion to vote. Earlier, two rebel Congress leaders -- Ramesh L Jharkhiholi and Mahesh Kumathalli -- and an independent leader R Shanker, who were disqualified on July 25, had moved the apex court on July 29. Disqualified JD (S) MLAs -- A H Vishwanath, K Gopalaiah, Narayana Gowda -- have filed a joint petition challenging the July 28 decision of disqualification by K R Ramesh Kumar, who resigned on Monday as Speaker of the House. The Congress MLAs who have approached the apex court are -- Prathap Gouda Patil, B C Patil, Shivaram Hebbar, S T Somashekar, Byrathi Basavaraj, Munirathna. Others who were disqualified are --  Roshan Baig, Anand Singh, MTB Nagaraj, Dr Sudhakar, Sand Shrimant Patil (all Congress). On the eve of the trust vote, the Speaker had disqualified 11 Congress MLAs and three JDS lawmakers till the end of the current term of the House in 2023, in addition to three earlier, bringing down the majority mark to 105, equivalent of the current strength of 105 of the BJP, which also enjoyed the support of an Independent. The Congress has 66 members, JDS 34, the Speaker one (who has a casting vote in case of a tie) and one expelled BSP member who was thrown out of the party for violating its directive to support the H D Kumaraswamy government during the trust vote on July 23. The Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy crumbled under the weight of a rebellion by a big chunk of its lawmakers. (With inputs from PTI)