Bengaluru: Karnataka Assembly speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Thursday disqualified two Congress rebel MLAs and an Independent lawmaker with immediate effect.
The legislators, Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Mahesh Kumatahalli (Athani) and R Shankar (Ranebennur), will be disqualified till the end of the term of the current House in 2023.
Giving his ruling, the speaker said he would take a decision on the remaining 14 cases in a "couple of days."
He said he was convinced that the resignations by the three members were not voluntary and genuine and he had therefore rejected them and proceeded to disqualify them under the anti-defection law.
"They have violated the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) and therefore are disqualified," he said.
While Ramesh and Mahesh are Congress rebels, Shankar is an Independent who merged with the Congress and became a minister in the Congress-JD(S) coalition.
Though Shankar was elected in the May 2018 Assembly elections as a KPJP candidate, the Speaker said he had merged the regional outfit with the Congress in June as he was the only its elected member, the Speaker said.
"Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah informed me in June that Shankar had merged his KPJP with the Congress after he was made minister in the H.D. Kumaraswamy coalition government," said Kumar.
Trouble for BJP?
This might prove to be a blow to the BJP as the party is waiting for the resignations of the rebel MLAs to be accepted and for the Congress-JD(S) coalition mark to fall below the assembly's half-way strength. However, if an MLA is disqualified (resignation not accepted), that would pre-empt the possibilities of him becoming a minister when the next government is formed.
They can, however, contest in the re-elections. If the BJP did indeed promise ministerial berths to some of the rebel MLAs, the disqualification might work against the saffron party.
As BJP leaders from Karnataka had a meeting with Amit Shah in Delhi and discussed government formation, no activity was seen in the BJP camp on Thursday.
The speaker, who is yet to announce his decision on the other rebel Congress and JD(S) lawmakers, said there was no further opportunity for the rebel MLAs to appear before him and it was a closed chapter now, adding, "law is same for everyone whether it is a labourer or president of India".
"Yes..the court has left to my discretion [to decide on resignation], I have discretion, I will work accordingly and will uphold the faith that the Supreme Court has expressed in me," Kumar said.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in its order on Wednesday gave the assembly speaker the freedom to decide on the resignation of the 15 MLAs within such time-frame as considered appropriate by him.
The speaker's announcement came two days after the Congress-JDS coalition government headed by H D Kumaraswamy collapsed as it lost the trust vote in the assembly in the backdrop of the rebellion by a section of their MLAs.
(With inputs from agencies)