Two disqualified Congress legislators of the Karnataka, Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathali, on Monday approached the apex court against the decision of former assembly speaker of disqualifying them from the House till 2023.
In a plea filed by both the legislators, they have urged the Top Court to set aside the order of July 25 of the Karnataka Assembly Speaker that bar them from the house till the end of the term of the current assembly.
Calling the actions of Assembly Speaker ‘illegal and mala fide’, they said that their resignations, rejected by assembly speaker, are voluntary and genuine.
The plea filed by both the legislators, as quoted by ANI, reads, ‘It is pertinent to state that the Petitioners have also filed affidavits before this court in the earlier proceedings stating that they have resigned voluntarily and their resignations may be accepted. And yet the Speaker has rejected the resignations submitted by the Petitioners on wholly extraneous grounds. The Impugned Order is completely arbitrary and unreasonable and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India read with Article 190’.
READ: Karnataka: Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar tenders his resignation from Post
While earlier in the day, Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar tendered his resignation from the post after holding Confidence motion moved by the new Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa, which was passed smoothly by voice vote.
Both Ramesh Jarkiholi and Mahesh Kumathali are among the three MLAs which were disqualified on July 25.
Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar had on Sunday, July 28, disqualified 14 more rebels from Karnataka Assembly under Anti-Defection Law. The disqualification of 14 more rebels on Sunday by speaker, 11 from Congress and 3 from Janata Dal (Secular) from the House, reduced the majority mark making it a cakewalk for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to prove its majority.
With the quick turn of events and disqualification of 17 MLAs, the effective strength in 225-member assembly was 207, leaving the Assembly Speaker. The magical majority mark in the state was 104.
BJP has currently 105 MLAs in the House while it also has support from some independent lawmakers.
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