Precedents are likely to come in the way of the Nitish Kumar-led Janata Dal (United)’s demand to disqualify its rebel MPs Sharad Yadav and Ali Anwar at the earliest. Sources indicate that after studying the JD(U)’s request, Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha M. Venkaiah Naidu is likely to send the case to the Ethics and Privileges committee instead of summarily disqualifying them as demanded by the party.
Two recent precedents come in the way of a direct action against Mr. Yadav and Mr. Anwar.
In 2005, the then leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj had moved an application to disqualify Rajya Sabha MP Jai Narain Nishad. He had openly campaigned for his son who was fighting the Bihar Assembly polls on Rashtriya Janata Dal ticket and criticised the BJP. The case was transferred to the Ethics and Privileges Committee by the then Vice-President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The case went on for nearly three years. Mr. Nishad was disqualified only in 2008, at the fag end of his tenure.
Unlikely to be broken
More recently, in 2012, the present Union Minister Upendra Kushwaha, who was then in the JD(U), quit the Rajya Sabha after the party’s application to disqualify him was forwarded to the Ethics and Privileges Committee. He had been protesting against Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for two years. He subsequently floated his own party after finally parting ways with the JD(U).
“There is no Parliamentary precedent to disqualify a member without giving him or her due hearing. It is unlikely it will be broken now,” a senior official at the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said.
