The Rajasthan High Court on Monday asked the state Assembly Speaker to decide within three months a disqualification petition filed by BJP MLA Madan Dilawar against the merger of six BSP MLAs with the ruling Congress.
Allowing Dilawar's plea partially, the court set aside the July 22 order of the Speaker rejecting the disqualification petition filed by him in March this year.
A single-judge bench of Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal also dismissed another writ petition filed by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the matter, while giving it the liberty to file a disqualification petition with the Speaker.
Dilawar had filed the petition in the high court challenging the merger of six MLAs – Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha – with the Congress and demanded a stay on the execution of the order passed by the Speaker.
“This writ petition is partly allowed to the extent that the order dated 22.7.2020 passed by the Speaker is quashed and set aside. The Speaker is expected to take a decision on the disqualification petition filed by the petitioner within the period of three months from today,” the court order said on Dilawar's plea. “Rests of the reliefs prayed for, are declined. The application stands disposed of accordingly,” the order said.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court disposed of as "infructuous" Dilawar's plea seeking stay on the Rajasthan Speaker's decision, which allowed the six BSP MLAs to merge with the Congress, in view of the High Court order.
A bench of justices Arun Mishra, Vineet Saran and MR Shah was informed by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the Speaker, that earlier in the day the Rajasthan High Court had passed an order on the plea filed Dilawar.
He said the high court has asked the Speaker to decide on merit the plea against the merger of six BSP MLAs with the ruling Congress. “The high court disposed Madan Dilawar's writ petition and has asked the assembly speaker to conduct hearing in the complaint filed on March 16 and decide the matter on merit within three months,” a counsel for the speaker in the high court told reporters in Jaipur after the high court's judgment.
The six MLAs had contested and won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP tickets and defected to the Congress in September 2019.
Reacting to the developments, MLA Awana said, "I welcome the court's decision. It is the victory of the truth.” The MLAs submitted an application for the merger on September 16, 2019 and the Speaker issued an order on September 18, 2019.
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