In a setback to the ruling Janata Dal (United) and its leader Nitish Kumar, the Patna High Court on Tuesday set aside the Bihar Speaker’s November order, disqualifying four rebel MLAs on the grounds of “anti-party activities” and “voluntary surrender of membership.”
After the MLAs allegedly cross-voted during the Rajya Sabha by-poll in June last, the Speaker on November 1 terminated their membership and divested them of facilities available to legislators.
On November 3, Gyanendra Singh Gyanu (Barh), Neeraj Kumar Babloo (Chhatapur), Rahul Sharma (Ghoshi) and Ravindra Rai (Mahua) challenged the ruling in the High Court.Justice J.P. Sharan said in his 57-page order that defection and dissent were not synonymous, and what the MLAs had done during the Rajya Sabha by-poll was “dissent, and it does not come under the anti-defection law.”
The court also pointed out that the petitioners had not put up any candidate against JD(U) president Sharad Yadav in the by-election and even voted in his favour. This “…means they had faith in the party and did not defect.” “Isolated act of dissent… and nothing further to add cannot amount to voluntary surrender of membership,” he said.
“It was Nitish Kumar on whose direction the Speaker had taken such a partial and unconstitutional decision against us, but truth prevailed and Nitish Kumar was exposed,” Mr. Gyanu told The Hindu .
Mr. Neeraj Kumar Babloo said this decision would boost the confidence of JD(U) MLAs opposed to Mr. Kumar’s “dictatorial approach.”
Mr. Kumar refused to comment, saying he was not aware of the verdict.
Last month, the Speaker had terminated the membership of four other JD(U) MLAs on similar charges.
