A delegation of Gujarat Congress legislators on Wednesday met Gujarat Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi and sought disqualification of Radhanpur MLA Alpesh Thakor, who recently resigned from the party before the parliamentary elections.
The delegation led by leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani submitted before the speaker that since the member has resigned from the party, he ceases to be even legislator of the house since he was elected on the party’s symbol.
“Since he resigned from the party, he has to be disqualified and bypoll need to be held to fill in the vacancy,” said Shailesh Parmar, senior Congress legislator.
“We met the speaker to seek his disqualification and then recommendation for holding by election in Radhanpur assembly segment,” Mr Parmar added.
Just before Lok Sabha Polls, OBC leader and Congress MLA from Radhanpur, Mr. Thakor, had resigned from the grand old party along with two other MLAs — Dhavalsinh Zala and Bharatji Thakor, both are close aides.
Meanwhile, Alpesh Thakor, who had joined the Congress party just before the assembly polls in 2017, has maintained that since he was elected by the people, he cannot be disqualified as a member of the assembly even after he has quit the party. On Wednesday, Dhavalsinh Zala dared Congress to get Mr. Thakor and other two legislators disqualified from the house.
“If Congress takes any actions against Alpesh Thakor, then the people of Gujarat will never forgive the party. Alpesh Thakor will continue as an MLA as he has not done anything against the Party. We were elected by voters in our constituencies and therefore we are accountable to people," Mr Zala told media persons after the Congress delegation met the Assembly Speaker.
The opposition party has also demanded disqualification of BJP MLA Pabubha Manek, whose election was recently set aside by the High Court in the ground that his nomination papers were defective. The High Court has ordered by election in Dwarka assembly seat from where Mr. Manek has been winning since 1995.
“Since the election for Dwarka assembly seat has been set aside by the High Court, he has to be disqualified immediately to pave the way for by poll,” Mr. Parmar said.
Mr. Manek has challenged the High Court order before the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear his plea.
