The Supreme Court today ordered the Election Commission to react to a petition by Karnataka’s 15 ineligible lawmakers who want the procedure to hold by-polls on their seats hovering till a verdict is taken on their appeal against the Speaker’s decision. The highest court in India will start trial this appeal on Wednesday.
The request to the three-judge bench led by Justice NV Ramana comes days after the Election Commission declared the elections for 15 Karnataka unoccupied assembly seats. The official order notifying the election is planned to be issued on 27 September, Friday.
The lawmakers, banned by former speaker KR Ramesh, are disqualified from participating in the election till the term of the present assembly under the anti-defection law ends.
The Congress and Janata Dal-Secular lawmakers had left their seats in July before changing to resorts and hotels in Mumbai where they were sequestered, allegedly by BJP leaders, to stop them from altering their mind. KR Ramesh, who was the speaker before the HD Kumaraswamy-led federation government lost its bulk, however, ruled that they had desecrated the anti-defection law and barred them.
The departure of the Congress-JD(S) MLAs during HD Kumaraswamy’s conviction vote had led to the fall down of the coalition government in July and helped the BJP come to power.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the barred MLAs, told the bench that as per barring orders of then-Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, these members cannot compete in the elections for the enduring phase of this Assembly which will end in 2023.
The Election Commission’s committee told the bench that Bypolls for 15 unoccupied Assembly seats have been notified and the court should not hang about the elections. The EC counsel also stressed that the Speaker’s order disqualifying these MLAs cannot remove them of their right to compete Bypolls.
