Panaji: Goa Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Friday dismissed the disqualification petition filed against eight MLAs who shifted sides from Congress to BJP.
The disqualification petition was filed by Congress Working Committee member and former Goa Pradesh Congress Committee President Girish Chodankar against MLAs Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes, and Rajesh Faldesai.
In his submission before the Speaker, Chodankar, through his lawyer Advocate Abhijit Gosavi, sought disqualification of the respondents under Para 2 of the Tenth Schedule read with Article 191 of the Constitution, on the grounds that the respondents have voluntarily given up membership of their original political party, the Indian National Congress, on which party’s candidature the said respondents contested and were elected to the 8th Goa Legislative Assembly.
“It is an undisputed fact that the respondents were duly elected as members of INC for the present assembly and are presently affiliated with the Bharatiya Janata Party,” the petitioner said.
The advocate for the petitioner further submitted that there is no valid merger in the present case because the twin requirements for the merger of a political party must be agreed upon by 2/3rds of the members of the Legislature Party, which is not satisfied in this case.
He submitted that Para 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India does not contemplate a merger of the political party with the Legislature Party. He stated that such a merger is contrary to the objective of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India.
The lawyer for Chodankar submitted that in the present case, there is no dispute that the original political party has not merged; therefore, there is no valid merger, and by virtue of deeming fiction, there cannot be a merger of a political party.
Advocate Parag Rao, representing the MLAs, said that through the communication on September 14, 2022, the Speaker recorded that a resolution was passed by the 8 MLAs of INC and that the Speaker does not decide the question of merger before the filing of the disqualification petition.
He further submitted that the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution does not contemplate the acceptance of the merger by the other political party. In any case, he submits that the merger was accepted by BJP as the respondents are sitting in the Assembly as BJP members. Furthermore, he submits that some of the respondents are even appointed in the Council of Ministers. He therefore submits that even by conduct, the merger is accepted by BJP.
Dismissing the disqualification petition, the Speaker ruled that a member of a House shall not be disqualified where his original political party merges with another political party, and he claims that he and any other members of his original political party.
The Speaker ruled, “In simple words, upon the merger of the original political party of the elected member with another political party, the elected member will not face disqualification in either contingency, i.e., whether he chooses to go with the merger or disagrees with the same. Disqualification on the ground of defection does not apply in case of merger.”
He further said that the Bombay High Court has clearly held that it is not necessary for there to be a decision of the political party to merge. “It also held that there is no requirement of a resolution of the political party for attracting protection under sub-para 2 of para 4 of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” he said.
The Speaker stated that the arguments of the advocate for the petitioner are therefore factually and legally incorrect when he says that the Speaker has decided about the merger in the order dated September 14, 2022.
