MANIPUR MLA DISQUALIFIED FROM ASSEMBLY

Imphal: Manipur Speaker Y. Khemchand Singh disqualified Congress MLA turned BJP lawmaker Thounaojam Shyamkumar from the state Assembly on Saturday, almost three years after the member’s disqualification was sought under the antidefection law. Shyamkumar, who was removed from the state cabinet by the Supreme Court on March 18, had offered to resign from the Assembly on Thursday, but the speaker did not accept it. On Saturday, pronouncing his judgement, Khemchand said Shyamkumar “ceases to be a member of the Manipur Legislative Assembly with immediate effect till the expiry of the term of this 11th Legislative Assembly of Manipur”. Shyamkumar’s constituency, Andro, is now lying vacant, Assembly secretary M. Ramani Devi said in a notification following his disqualification. K. Meghachandra Singh, Congress MLA and one of the 15 petitioners who had approached the speaker seeking disqualification of Shyamkumar, welcomed the judgement but said justice has come after a long wait of three years in the fiveyear term of the Assembly. The incident “has already affected the democratic rights of the people. Nobody can go against the Constitution”, he said in a statement. “It has been 3 years that I have been fighting to get justice. I went to Manipur High Court and then to the Supreme Court. Had the apex court not given the landmark verdict, the speaker even might not have given this judgement. So, I am grateful to the Supreme Court,” he said.