The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Speaker's decision questioned

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 01, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Speaker's decision questioned

Staff Reporter

Three MLAs move High Court; petition to be heard today

BANGALORE: A group of three MLAs on Tuesday challenged in the Karnataka High Court the action of the Speaker, Krishna, in recognising H.D. Kumaraswamy, son of the former Prime Minister, H.D. Deve Gowda, as the leader of the Janata Dal (S) Legislature Party.

The matter is listed for admission on Wednesday. In their petition, Vatal Nagraj, Rajendran and Sriram Reddy said they had urged the Speaker not to consider Mr. Kumaraswamy as the leader of the Janata Dal (S) Legislature Party.

However, the Speaker passed an order recognising Mr. Kumaraswamy as the leader of the Janata Dal (S) Legislature Party. This was wrong, they said, as the Speaker had not considered their application.

The Speaker, they said, ought to have passed an order on their application before recognising Mr. Kumaraswamy as the leader of that party in the Legislature. Only in the event of the Janata Dal (S) merging with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it will not attract the anti-defection law, they said.

Or, they would come under the ambit of the law.

Clause

"With the Exception Clause (3) being excluded from the law, it is mandatory that the parties merge, failing which the actions could be considered as without authority," the petitioners said.

Caveat

Meanwhile, Dorai Raju, president of the State Legal Cell of the BJP, said they were contemplating filing caveat in the matter.

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