Speaker disqualifies nine rebel Congress MLAs

27 March, Dehradun

Following the imposition of President’s Rule in Uttarakhand, Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal Sunday announced disqualification of nine Congress rebel legislators and said the Harish Rawat-led government would seek the Trust vote in Assembly tomorrow, as scheduled.

Addressing mediapersons here, Kunjwal said after listening to the detailed arguments from the rebels, he had taken the decision that the rebel Congress legislators were no longer a member of Congress Party and thus, ceased to be member of the Assembly under the anti-defection law.In reply to a media query, Kunjwal said he had not received any official notification till afternoon regarding the President’s Rule being imposed in Uttarakhand and as such, the scheduled sitting of the Assembly would take place, if no official information reaches him confirming the media reports of imposition of President’s rule in the state.

The rebel Congress MLAs include former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, Harak Singh Rawat, Amrita Rawat, Shaila Rani Rawat, Pradip Batra, Subodh Uniyal, Shailendra Mohan Singhal, Kunwar Pranav Singh and Umesh Sharma. They had created a ruckus in the Assembly on March 18 and later plunged the state into a political crisis by joining hands with the opposition BJP in demanding dismissal of Chief Minister Harish Rawat.

Now, the 71-member State Assembly, including one Anglo-Indian nominated member, is reduced to 62 members. According to State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Indira Hridyesh, Congress would have the combined number of 33 MLAs, including support of six MLAs of alliance partner PDF in the House and would comfortably win against the BJP’s strength of 28, if the Trust vote takes place.

According to political observers, the Speaker’s move has made the political situation in Uttarakhand more piquant with the disqualified MLAs likely to move court against the move. They have already been denied relief from the High Court in this regard earlier.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Harish Rawat has also indicated that legal recourse could be taken against the Centre’s imposing President’s Rule, when Assembly was in session and just before the Trust vote that Congress was ”set to win.”