PANJIM: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Girish Chodankar today has urged the Supreme Court of India for an early hearing before September 30 in a disqualification petition filed against ten of former MLA’s, who joined BJP last year.
The disqualification petitions filed against the ten MLAs by Chodankar, along with a petition against two MLAs filed by MGP MLA Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar, all who joined BJP, were to be heard before the Apex Court on August 28
“The petition seeks directions to the respondent (Speaker), as the disqualification petition filed before him is pending since more than one year now,” it added further.
At the hearing on August 11, the Speaker, while seeking two weeks time to file an additional affidavit in the disqualification petition had informed the Supreme Court that the information and documents required could not be completed on account of the COVID-19 situation in the State.
In July 2019, ten of the 15 Congress MLAs quit the party and claimed to have merged with BJP, thereby increasing the strength of the ruling party to 27 in the 40 member house. The disqualification petition filed against the 10 MLAs by the Congress party is pending before Patnekar since August 2019.
The Congress party has challenged the merger claim saying that there is no split in the Congress party.
