A day after the Rajasthan High Court dismissed BJP MLA Madanlal Dilawar’s plea over the merger of Rajasthan BSP with the Congress, he filed a second petition in the High Court on Tuesday.
Dilawar has challenged the Rajasthan Assembly Speaker’s decision taken on July 24 to dismiss his plea demanding disqualification of BSP MLAs under the anti-defection law.
Dilawar, in his first petition, alleged that despite his complaint being submitted to the Speaker C.P. Joshi in March regarding the BSP MLAs’ defection, no action was taken by him in the last many months.
Six BSP MLAs had merged with the Congress in September 2019 and also supported it during the recent Rajya Sabha polls.
Dilawar, in March this year, submitted a complaint to the Speaker in this context which was unattended till July 24.
Around noon on Monday, Dilawar staged a sit-in at the office of the assembly secretary, P.K. Mathur. “The secretary told me that my petition had been dismissed. He told me that a detailed order will be provided on the email. I am waiting for that,” Dilawar later said.
Meanwhile, the single bench of Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal on Monday dismissed Dilawar’s petition calling it infructuous after Additional Attorney General R.P. Singh informed the court that the Speaker has already decided on the complaint on July 24. Senior lawyer Harish Salve represented Dilawar’s case.
In his petition filed in the HC on Friday, Dilawar said the Speaker declared the six BSP MLAs — Sandeep Yadav (Tijara), Wajib Ali (Nagar), Deepchand Kheria (Kishangarh Bas), Lakhan Meena (Karauli) and Rajendra Gudha (Udaipurwati) as having merged with the Congress on September 18, 2019.
Dilawar, the MLA from Ramganj Mandi constituency in Kota district, petitioned the Speaker on March 16, seeking disqualification of the BSP MLAs under the 10th schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law).
Speaking to IANS, Dilawar said, “We have taken the fresh plea in court alleging that the merger is wrong. The Speaker did not attend my petition even after 130 days. However, immediate action was taken by him on the Congress whip Mahesh Joshi who complained against 19 rebel MLAs. I gave a gentle reminder to the Speaker on July 18 to attend to my petition, however, without allowing me to represent myself, my petition was dismissed by him,” he alleged.
“While I kept demanding the copy of the order, it was not given to me but was directly presented in the High Court and on the same basis, my petition in High court was dismissed,” he added.
The decision was taken on technical ground and not on merit and hence we have approached the High Court again, Dilawar said further.
