The High Court of Karnataka on Tuesday asked the State Advocate-General to inform it by Wednesday afternoon how soon the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly would give his decision on the plea seeking disqualification of seven MLAs of the Janata Dal (Secular) for voting against the party’s candidate in the 2016 elections to the Rajya Sabha, in violation of the party’s whip.
Justice Raghvendra S. Chauhan asked A-G M.R. Naik to get the response from the Speaker by 2.30 p.m. on Wednesday while adjourning further hearing on the petition filed by JD(S) MLAs C.N. Balakrishna and B.B. Ningaiah.
The petitioners, while complaining that the Speaker had failed to dispose of plea to disqualify the seven MLAs for nearly two years, have sought a direction from the court to the Speaker not to allow the seven MLAs to cast their votes in the elections to the Rajya Sabha on March 23.
When the petition came up for hearing, the court asked Additional Advocate-General A.S. Ponnanna to seek instruction from the Speaker on when he would pronounce decision on the plea to disqualify the seven MLAs.
Time needed
In the afternoon, Mr. Naik appeared and informed the court that the Speaker would decide the plea of disqualification on or before March 23. Mr. Naik pointed out that the Speaker requires some time as he is not a judicially trained person to take a quick decision on such subjects.
However, Senior Counsel Uday Holla, appearing for the petitioners, pointed out that as the Rajya Sabha elections were on March 23 the decision by the Speaker should be well in advance.
Meanwhile, Senior Counsel B.V. Acharya, appearing for the seven MLAs, argued that the petitioners had kept quiet for 18 months when their plea remained before the Speaker, and had moved the court now.
While pointing out that the interest of the State should be paramount consideration as the Rajya Sabha members represent the State, and the interest of the State should not be compromised by the judiciary or the legislature or the executive, Mr. Justice Chauhan said the aim of the court was to reconcile the issue and for that purpose the Speaker is required to pronounce his decision at the earliest.
It has been contended in the petition that seven MLAs — B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, N. Cheluvarayaswamy, A.B. Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, H.C. Balakrishna, Akhanda Sriniva Murthy R., Iqbal Ansari, and S. Bheemanaik, “stood disqualified” the moment they voted against the official candidate of the party contrary to the whip issued for the Rajya Sabha election held on June 11, 2016.
