Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Congress leader Girish Chodankar has approached the Supreme Court, urging an expedited hearing on his petition seeking the disqualification of eight MLAs who defected to the BJP after being elected on Congress tickets.
In his plea, Chodankar highlighted that over six months have passed without the respondents filing their replies, describing the delay as a “deliberate and calculated” attempt to stall the judicial process. He stressed that the case involves significant legal questions with broader public implications and therefore warrants immediate attention.
The petition, originally filed as a special leave petition in March, challenges the orders of the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly and the High Court that allowed the eight MLAs who switched allegiance in 2022 to retain their positions. Chodankar’s latest application notes that with the term of the 8th Goa Legislative Assembly ending in 2027, there are less than 16 months left for resolution.
“More than three years have passed since the alleged defection, which should have triggered immediate disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution,” the plea states. Chodankar also pointed out a precedent from the 7th Goa Legislative Assembly, where a similar case became infructuous after the assembly’s term ended, suggesting that the current delay is a tactic to render his petition ineffective.
The petition raises a critical legal question: whether a two-thirds majority of a legislative party can claim a valid merger without the consent of the original political party under whose symbol the members were elected.
The Supreme Court has tagged this matter with Chodankar’s earlier petition involving ten Congress MLAs who joined the BJP in 2019.
