Panaji: Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Monday dismissed the disqualification petition filed by a Congress leader against eight MLAs who had shifted sides to the BJP. Congress leader Dominic Joao Noronha had filed the disqualification petition against eight MLAs on September 14, 2022, after they shifted sides to the BJP. The disqualification petition was filed against Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes, and Rajesh Faldesai under the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, holding them responsible for the defection. The petitioner seeking the disqualification had also asked for an order against the MLAs from acting, functioning, or masquerading as Members of the Goa Legislative Assembly and receiving any benefits as MLAs.
Noronha had pleaded before the Speaker that the elections for the Goa Legislative Assembly were held on February 14, 2022, and the results were declared on March 10, 2022. The BJP secured 20 out of 40 seats, and the Indian National Congress secured eleven seats. The petitioner stated that all the eight MLAs were elected as MLAs on the ticket of the INC, along with three other members. On September 14, 2022, the respondents claimed to constitute two-thirds of the legislature party and asserted that they had merged into the BJP, seeking protection under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Noronha had also pleaded that they had passed a resolution to merge with the BJP. He said that the respondents claimed there is no decision to merge the INC into the BJP. The petitioner had also submitted that the respondents had openly admitted that they had joined the BJP and voluntarily given up their membership in the Congress party.
The respondents filed different replies before the Speaker, and the gist of the case was that the INC had a total of 11 MLAs in the assembly. The respondents, totaling eight in number, constituted two-thirds of the total members of the INC.
The Speaker, in his order, mentioned that it is clear the Tenth Schedule confers legitimacy to the actions of the legislature, which would otherwise lead to disqualification if a substantial number of legislators—specifically two-thirds in the case of a merger—disagree with the political party. “The independent existence of the legislature party is accepted as a defense to the action of legislators, which would have otherwise amounted to defection,” the Speaker said, pointing to a Supreme Court order. The Speaker ruled, “I find that there is no disqualification incurred by the respondents in this case, and the petitioner cannot claim their disqualification.”
