HC DISMISSES PIL SEEKING DISQUALIFICATION OF 4 MLAS

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking disqualification of four MLAS including Sukhpal Singh Khaira, the president of the Punjab Ekta Party (PEP). A Sector-7 resident, Ravinder Singh Rana, had filed the petition which was first taken up on October 14.

The detailed order is awaited, though the court, during open court proceedings, was of the view that it had no jurisdiction to issue directions to the speaker.

The PIL had sought directions to the speaker to disqualify Khaira, MLA (Bholath), Baldev Singh (Jaitu), Nazar Singh Manshahia (Mansa) and Amarjit Singh Sandoa (Ropar). It had also demanded that their pay, perks and allowances be stopped with immediate effect.

The petitioner had argued that Khaira left the AAP in January 2019 and formed the PEP. Baldev Singh, too, contested on the

PEP ticket in the Lok Sabha elections. As of Manshahia and Sandoa, they both have joined the Congress, the petition states. “...there was large scale hue and cry among masses, particularly voters and supporters of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) regarding the act and conduct of private respondents. …, the private respondents have now become disqualified to remain MLAS on grounds of defection,” the PIL had argued adding that a legal notice seeking disqualification was served on the speaker, but the same remain undecided.

“At the time of the elections, citizens of the country gave vote to a person set up as a candidate by a particular party… Once the candidate has shifted loyalty from that particular party and migrated to another political party, he cannot raise the voice of his voters inside the state legislature or in the public domain,” the PIL had claimed.