Patna HC bars 4 JD (U) MLAs from Friday Trust Vote in Bihar Assembly
Feb 19, Patna
he Patna High Court Thursday barred four JD (U) rebel legislators from casting their vote during the trust vote tomorrow , Friday in the Bihar assembly.
These rebel MLAs had moved the Court to seek permission to take part in the floor test.
Earlier, the Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary has declared Janta Dal (U) as the main Opposition Party in Assembly. Senior JD (U) leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary has been made Opposition leader in place of Nand Kishore Yadav of BJP in the Assembly.
The Speaker decided that all Janta Dal (U) MLAs including those with Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi camp would sit in the Opposition, while the Chief Minister and his ministerial colleagues would sit on the treasury bench. The Manjhi government will seek a trust vote tomorrow.
The Speaker said that he has taken the decision as JD(U) has maximum number of legislators in comparison to BJP. BJP legislators protested in front of the Speaker’s chamber against the decision.
Senior BJP leader Nand Kishore Yadav said the sitting arrangements decided by the Speaker were unconstitutional as the JD(U) MLAs will for the first time sit in both Opposition and Treasury benches.
The JD(U) has altogether 109 MLAs besides the Speaker.
As Jitan Ram Manjhi has been declared an unattached member of the House, the BJP with 87 members and four Independents siding with Manjhi will sit in the middle aisle between Treasury and Opposition benches, while RJD, Congress and CPI members will sit by the side of the Opposition benches.
The Speaker has also refused to recognize Rajiv Ranjan as the chief whip nominated by Jitan Ram Manjhi. He has instead, declared that Shravan Kumar will be the chief Whip of JD(U) and those violating his Whip would invite disqualification under Anti-Defection Law.
Meanwhile, BJP Thursday attacked Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary for declaring Janata Dal (U) as the main Opposition Party in the state Assembly.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain alleged that the Speaker is working at the behest of JD(U) and taking all decisions on the directions of Nitish Kumar. He also rejected JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav’s allegation that BJP is behind the current political crisis and added that his party has nothing to do with it.