NEW DELHI, June 26: The Maharashtra rebel leaders have rushed to the Supreme Court to pre-empt any attempt by the deputy speaker to disqualify 16 rebel members of the state Assembly including the group leader Eknath Shinde.
Shinde and other 15 MLAs in their petition in the apex court has also challenged the appointment of Ajay Choudhari as the Shiv Sena Legislature Party leader and the rejection of no-confidence motion against Deputy Speaker Narahari Zirwal.
The move was initiated as the official group claimed that the rebel camps growing numbers, now believed to be 40 MLAs out of 55 Sena members in the Assembly, did not mean much legally.
“There is a narrative in the media that just because they (rebels) have a 2/3rd majority, they will not face disqualification. You can ask any constitutional lawyer, this is totally wrong. The concept of 2/3rd applies only when there is a merger with another party,” senior advocate Devadatt Kamat said at a briefing in Mumbai with Shiv Sena MP Arvind Sawant.
“(Disqualification) proceedings have been initiated by the Shiv Sena against 16 MLAs. There are several judgments… the Supreme Court has said a legislator’s action outside the House, if he commits anti-party activities, he is liable to be disqualified,” he said. “The action of going to a foreign state, a BJP-ruled state, meeting with BJP leaders, trying to topple the government, writing letters against the government, amounts to a clear violation… This is our plea to the Speaker,” he said.
“They are also saying the Deputy Speaker has no jurisdiction. This is also totally wrong. In the absence of a Speaker, the Deputy Speaker has all the powers. We are going to urge all these 16 MLAs will be disqualified and face the electorate,” the lawyer claimed.
(Manas Dasgupta)