Disqualification of Ansari from assembly being examined

Amid the controversy over denial of permission to shift jailed BSP MLA Mukhtar Ansari from Punjab to Uttar Pradesh, state assembly speaker Hridaya Narain Dikshit has asked the assembly secretariat to examine the application seeking disqualification of Ansari for remaining absent from the house since 2017.

A police team was sent to Punjab on October 20, 2020 to bring back Ansari to be produced before a court in UP. However, Punjab’s Ropad jail administration refused to hand over Ansari to Uttar Pradesh police on medical grounds.

The assembly speaker said: “An application has been given to me by one Sudhir Singh, a resident of Varanasi, to disqualify Ansari for remaining absent from the house since 2017. I have asked principal secretary, state assembly, Pradeep Dubey to examine the application.”

Dikshit further said: “The application will be examined under the provisions of the Article 190 (4) of the Constitution.”

Dubey said: “We are examining the application but will not like to make any comments on the issue at this stage.”

Article 190 (4) of the Constitution provides “…If for a period of sixty days a member of a House of the legislature of a state is without permission of the House absent from all meetkilled ings thereof, the House may declare his seat vacant: Provided that in computing the said period of sixty days no account shall be taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days.”

Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Alka Rai, wife of late BJP MLA late Krishnanand Rai, who was in Ghazipur in 2005, had also recently sent a letter to Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra accusing the Punjab government of protecting Ansari, who was accused of killing her husband.

Ansari was acquitted in the Rai murder case by a court in 2019.

Senior Congress leader Surendra Singh Rajput said: “Both Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Alka Rai and BJP are stooping too low on the issue. Ansari is in Punjab jail on orders of court and not because of Congress. The BJP and its government are apparently afraid of Priyanka Gandhi and so they want to blame her for everything.”

Amid accusations and counter accusations the issue has become a point of discussion in political circles.

Will Ansari be disqualified? Uttar Pradesh State Law Commission chairman justice AN Mittal said an application before the speaker seeking disqualification of Ansari may not be legally sustainable.

“Ansari is in jail on court orders and cannot attend the house without court’s permission. The court can allow him to attend the house if his presence is needed to vote on a no-confidence motion. But he has been precluded from attending the house by a judicial order and cannot move out on his own. Thus, he cannot be held responsible for not attending the house,” said Mittal.

A POLICE TEAM WAS SENT TO PUNJAB ON OCTOBER 20, 2020 TO BRING BACK ANSARI TO BE PRODUCED BEFORE A COURT IN UP.