HC to hear BSP plea seeking disqualification of 6 MLAs today

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan high court has deferred to Thursday the hearing on the petition filed by the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) seeking disqualification of six lawmakers who contested on the party symbol but merged with the ruling Congress government in the state last year.

The six BSP members of Rajasthan legislative assembly (MLAs) who had merged with the Ashok Gehlot–led government are Sandeep Yadav, Tijara MLA, Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kishangarh Bas), LakhanMeena (Karauli), and Rajendra Gudha (Udaipurwati).

“The petition was heard by single bench of justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal. The court’s proceedings started around 4pm. Today, arguments took place on the interpretation of schedule 10,” BSP counsel Dinesh Garg said on Wednesday.

He added that the merger was unconstitutional. The BSP didn’t merged with the party neither at the national level nor state level.

As per law, parties merge, not legislators. “Also, these six MLAs didn’t submit their resignations and so the whip was issued by the national secretary of BSP. Hence, they are liable to be disqualified under the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India,” told Garg.

On Wednesday, BJP legislator Madan Dilawar had also filed two petitions in the high court requesting disqualification of the BSP MLAs. Both the petitions, of Dilawar and BSP, have been tagged, said Garg. Senior advocate Harish Salve made his arguments on behalf of Dilawar while Satish Mishra represented BSP.

Earlier, the BSP had issued a whip to the six MLAs to vote against the government in any proceedings of the House.