SC Refuses To Stay Disqualification Of Six Rebel Congress MLAs From Himachal Pradesh

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh Assembly by the Speaker.

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta heard the petition today and issued notice on plea against disqualification.  ( Image Source :PTI )

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh Assembly by the Speaker. It said that the court can issue notice but there cannot be a stay on disqualification to allow them to take part in Assembly proceedings.

A bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta heard the petition today and issued notice on plea against disqualification. 

While hearing the petition Justice Khanna remarked that as far as the "question of staying the fresh elections...This will require examination. Otherwise, this plea will become infructuous."

Senior Advocate Abhshek Manu Singhvi who was defeated because these MLAs cross-voted in Rajya Sabha elections told the court that since Article 359 has kicked in by notification of election, there was no question of staying any fresh elections. "There's also no question of staying the disqualification," he added.

Justice Khanna said the court is not staying the disqualification but will examine the question of staying fresh elections. He also said that the court will need time to hear the counsels on both sides to examine the issue in depth and the case cannot be concluded in five minutes.

"Issue notice in the main writ petition as well as the stay application. Re-list in week commencing May 6. Counter-affidavit to be filed within four weeks, rejoinder, if any, within one week. The reply may be filed by respondent," the court pronounced order.

In the previous hearing last week, after initially asking the six disqualified rebel Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh as to why they did not move the High Court, the Supreme Court agreed to hear their case.

The six rebel MLAs of the Congress party had moved the top court challenging their disqualification by the Speaker from the Himachal Pradesh Assembly. They were disqualified after they abstained from the budget vote. They had also cross-voted in favour of the BJP Rajya Sabha candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections.

The ex-MLAs have filed a petition in the apex court through one of the disqualified MLA Chetanya Sharma against the February 29 decision of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania. The six disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma. 

Last month, the Himachal Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified these six Congress MLAs by exercising his powers under the Anti-Defection law. The six disqualified MLAs cross-voted in the recently-concluded Rajya Sabha Elections in the state.

As a result, Congress candidate and Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi was defeated by the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in elections to the single seat for Rajya Sabha.

While delivering his verdict, Pathania said he was looking to prevent 'Aya Ram gaya Ram' politics. This phrase was also recently used in context of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's return to the NDA. This phrase goes back to the 1960s when defections by political leaders were becoming a common way to destabilise elected governments.

In an Assembly of 68 MLAs the Congress had won 40 seats. It also had the support of three independent MLAs. When Sukhvinder Sukhu took oath as the chief minister of the state, the Congress was well above the majority mark of 35 (required to form a government).

After six MLAs were disqualified, Congress the effective strength of the House has gone down from 68 to 62, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk from 40 to 34.