Team Goemkarponn
PANAJI: Goa assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar dismissed the disqualification petition filed by the Congress against eight of its MLAs who defected to the ruling BJP.
The disqualification petition was filed by former Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar against MLAs Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rudolf Fernandes and Rajesh Faldesai.
Chodankar, in his petition, had sought that the speaker disqualify these eight MLAs under Para 2 of the Tenth Schedule read with Article 191 of the Constitution on the ground that they had voluntarily given up the membership of the original party (Congress) on the tickets of which they had contested for the 8th Goa legislative assembly and had won.
Speaker of the state legislative assembly Ramesh Tawadkar approved the “merger” of Congress MLAs into the BJP by rejecting the disqualification petition against the Congress MLAs who had joined the BJP two years prior, which was brought by former state president of the Congress Girish Chodankar.
The petitioner requested the disqualification of eight lawmakers: Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Michael Lobo, Delilah Lobo, Kedar Naik, Rodolfo Fernandes, and Rajesh Faldesai.
The Speaker dismissed the disqualification argument, ruling that “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,” following the merger of the elected member’s original political party with another political party.
“I find that there is no disqualification incurred by the respondents in this case, and the petitioner cannot claim their disqualification,” Tawadkar added in his conclusion.
“The answers to the questions I posed above conclude that the respondents are not ineligible under the Constitution’s 10th Schedule and that the petitioner’s argument that a political party and legislative party must merge is unacceptable.”
As a result, he wrote, “I dismiss the disqualification petition.”
