Pilot camp moves HC, plea to be heard today

JAIPUR: Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his team of 18 lawmakers on Thursday approached the Rajasthan high court’s Jaipur bench to seek cancellation of the disqualification notice served on them by assembly speaker CP Joshi, insisting that the anti-defection law could not be invoked against them for disagreeing outside the House with some government decisions and policies.

The petition will be heard on Friday by a two-member division bench of the high court at 1pm.

Pilot’s decision to move the Rajasthan high court is seen by Congress leaders as a signal that he intends to pursue his battle with CM Ashok Gehlot, and underlines his growing distance with the party that removed him on Tuesday as the head of its state unit and as deputy CM of Rajasthan after differences came to a head last weekend.

The hearing was deferred after Pilot’s camp – represented by senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi – filed an amended petition in the evening, incorporating additional grounds of challenge to its earlier plea filed before a single-judge bench.

If the Pilot camp is disqualified, it would reduce the strength of the assembly and place Gehlot on a stronger footing in a House with reduced strength until elections are held to fill their seats