In an unexpected turn of events on Saturday night , State Assembly Speaker Nadendla Manohar rejected the resignations of all Telangana MLAs, numbering about 100, on the ground that they were tendered in an “emotionally charged atmosphere”.
An announcement that the Speaker had not accepted the resignations was made by the Secretary, Legislature, S. Raja Sadaram, a little while after Mr. Manohar boarded a flight to London to participate in the Commonwealth Presiding Officers' conference.
Nearly 100 MLAs from the Telangana region belonging to the Congress, Telugu Desam, Telangana Rashtra Samithi, CPI and the BJP, besides some independents had submitted their letters of resignation to the Deputy Speaker and the Legislature Secretary on July 4 in a bid to mount pressure on the Union Government to initiate the process for creating a separate State. All the letters were in the format prescribed under the Assembly rules.
Issue examined
The Speaker, who was away in the US then, said on his return that he would consult legal and constitutional experts besides taking the advice of Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar and talking to the MLAs individually before taking a decision on the resignations.
A press release issued by the Legislature Secretary said the Speaker had examined the resignations from all angles. After making due enquiry into the circumstances leading to the mass resignations, he had “come to the conclusion that they were tendered in an emotionally surcharged atmosphere and has, therefore, not accepted the same”.
He explained that under Article 190 (3) of the Constitution, if an MLA resigns his seat by writing to the Speaker under his hand and when his resignation is accepted by the Speaker, the seat shall become vacant.
