SC upholds Speaker's decision to disqualify 17 Karnataka MLAs

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SC upholds Speaker's decision to disqualify 17 Karnataka MLAs

The Supreme Court however allowed them to contest Dec 5 by-elections

Wednesday November 13, 2019 11:20 PM, ummid.com with inputs from IANS

New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday upheld the disqualification of 17 Karnataka MLAs, but struck down Speaker's decison to disqualify them till the end of term of the Legislative Assembly, paving the way for them to contest the bypolls slated on December 5.

A bench headed by Justice N.V. Ramana opined that there is no doubt that disqualification takes place when there is defection.

The defection had happened before the resignation, therefore, the tenet of disqualification does not vanish as the Supreme Court upheld the Speaker's decision to disqualify the MLAs.

The Supreme Court however ruled that the Assembly Speaker is not empowered to disqualify MLAs till end of the term of the House.

The Supreme Court has refrained from commenting on the validity of the resignation though. The apex court emphasised on the constitutional morality saying that the Speaker can only examine the resignation is voluntarily or otherwise.

Karnataka leaders hail SC decision

Political leaders from across the spectrum in Karnataka on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court judgement upholding former assembly Speaker K. R. Ramesh Kumar's decision to disqualify 17 rebel legislators.

Ramesh Babu of Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) lauded the Supreme Court for upholding the Constitution and the Parliamentary system.

"So the Supreme Court had upheld the Speaker's decision apart from the provision to allow the disqualified legislators to contest again," Babu told IANS.

According to Babu, the apex court's judgement will strengthen the whip power of political parties.

"The Supreme Court has upheld the Xth schedule," said Babu about the part of Indian Constitution which deals with the act of defection by lawmakers.

Moral bankruptcy of BJP

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao also tweeted welcoming the judgement.

"Supreme Court has upheld the disqualification of all the 17 legislators who defected from Congress and JDS. It also proves that the Karnataka government is an illegal government," tweeted Rao.

Rao accused BJP of employing unconstitutional means to fabricate a majority to form the government in the state.

"It should be immediately dismissed," he asserted.

Former Congress chief minister and opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah tweeted that the Supreme Court judgement exposes the moral bankruptcy of the BJP leaders and the disqualified legislators.

"Operation Kamala is a proven act and there is nothing more shameful than this," tweeted Siddaramaiah welcoming the apex court's verdict.

Karnataka by-elections

The by-elections have been necessitated due to the disqualification of the 14 Congress and three Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) rebel legislators after they resigned from their respective assembly seats in July in protest against the former coalition government's functioning.

The by-elections will be held in Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K.R. Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagara, Hosakote, K.R. Pete and Hunsur.

Vote count is on December 9.

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