Hearing on disqualification pleas against rebel AAP MLAs on July 31

CHANDIGARH : Punjab assembly speaker Rana KP Singh will hold a hearing on the disqualification petitions against the rebel MLAs of the AAP on July 31 under the anti-defection law.

The speaker has summoned two legislators, Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Amarjit Singh Sandoa, for personal appearance in the disqualification case against them for leaving the AAP on whose ticket they were elected, as per a state assembly official. Khaira had quit the AAP in January 2019 after falling out with the party leadership and floated his separate Punjab Ekta Party. The two-time MLA from Bholath assembly constituency then unsuccessfully contested the 2019 elections from Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency. The disqualification petition against him was filed by the AAP in January 2019 under the anti-defection law. Sandoa, a first-time MLA from Rupnagar, had joined the ruling Congress before the parliamentary polls.As per the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, if a member voluntarily gives membership of a political party, he or she is subject to disqualification. The proceedings were started over a year ago. Also, the speaker has asked two other MLAs, Baldev Singh and Nazar Singh Manshahia, to submit their written replies by month-end.

A first-time MLA from Jaitu, Baldev Singh had also quit the AAP and contested from the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat as the nominee of the PEP, but later returned to the AAP. Manshahia, on the other hand, had tendered his resignation from the state assembly and switched sides to the Congress before the polls. The speaker rejected his resignation letter as it was not in the prescribed format.