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DEFECTION ROW
Chandigarh, January 13 Announcing the decision to dismiss 14 petitions filed by the opposition HJC and Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on the last day of the Supreme Court’s three-month deadline here today, the Speaker asserted that he had accepted the merger of the HJC with the Congress under provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Indian Constitution, which allowed such a merger provided it was supported by two-thirds of the party’s legislators. Stung by the Speaker’s “malafide” decision, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi said he would challenge Speaker’s decision in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Even Om Prakash Chautala, INLD chief and Leader of the Opposition in Haryana Vidhan Sabha, termed Speaker’s decision as “unconstitutional” and said his party would also move the court on the issue. “In the light of the facts and discussions, I have no option but to dismiss petitions No. 1 to 5 filed by Kuldeep Bishnoi under Article 191 read with 10th Schedule of the Constitution on the ground of their allegedly giving up membership of their original political party-HJC ,” the Speaker said. In a 29 page judgment, the Speaker said: “The merger of the two political parties -Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) and the Indian National Congress, has been proved as a fact and as such all the petitions are hereby dismissed. The fact that 75 of the delegates-cum-primary members of a party out of 108 had unanimously decided regarding the merger of the two political parties, the merger of two political parties is held to have been proved conclusively. No evidence has been produced by the applicant to say that the persons, who have deposed as a witness and claimed to be the delegates-cum-primary members were not genuine persons and were not delegates-cum-primary members as claimed by them.”The Speaker said the merger of the HJC group with the Congress had been allowed by his predecessor, HS Chatha. “The merger, which was allowed by my predecessor, was not challenged. The matter before me was that of disqualification under the Anti-Defection Act,” Sharma told reporters. On the issue of four HJC legislators joining the Congress first and one legislator doing it later, the Speaker said: “Merger is a continuing process.” Answering a specific query about the status of the HJC as a political party, he said the original political party has been merged with the Congress and the status of HJC could be clarified by the Election Commission of India. Bishnoi had petitioned the Speaker seeking disqualification of the five MLAs under the anti-defection law in December 2009. The five “defector” MLAs of the HJC, Rao Narender Singh and Satpal Sangwan (both Cabinet ministers), Vinod Bhayana (Chief Parliamentary Secretary), Zile Ram Sharma and Dharam Singh Chokker, had “merged” their party with the Congress on November 9 and 10, 2009, to help Hooda cobble together a majority in the 90-member Haryana Assembly. Winning 40 seats, the Congress had fallen short of a majority after the October 2009 Assembly poll and had formed the government with the support of the seven Independents and five defector MLAs. Timeline
Nov 9 & 10, 2009: Five HJC MLAs join the Congress Dec 18, 2009:
HJC chief Bishnoi demands MLAs’ disqualification Dec 20, 2011: HC declares five MLAs as “unattached” Sept 28, 2012: SC relief to the MLAs from “unattached” status Jan 2, 2013: Speaker reserves the order on disqualification petitions January 13: Speaker dismisses disqualification petitions
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