New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice to the former Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader and presently MLA of Jharkhand, Stephen Marandi, and Jharkhand Speaker on a petition questioning the Speaker's order that Mr. Marandi was qualified to become a member of the Assembly.

A Bench of Justices K.G. Balakrishnan and D.K. Jain issued the notice on a petition from Kamla Kant Prasad Sinha, former MLA, contending that Mr. Marandi was disqualified as per the provisions of the amended anti-defection law.

The petitioner said the Speaker's June 20 order that Mr. Marandi did not attract disqualification was patently illegal. He said Mr. Marandi could not continue as an independent MLA after voluntarily resigning from the membership of his original party. Mr. Marandi was earlier elected to the Rajya Sabha on the JMM ticket but after having been elected to the Assembly from the Dumka constituency he resigned from his Rajya Sabha seat. He also became the Chairperson of Public Accounts Committee of the Assembly.

The petitioner said the Speaker did not properly understood the provisions of the anti-defection law, "which provides that a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified if he has voluntarily given up his membership of such political party."

He sought a declaration that Mr. Marandi was disqualified under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (relating to defections) and a consequent direction that the seat held by him had fallen vacant from February 27, 2005, the date on which he was declared elected to the Assembly.

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