Pleas to disqualify 12 Goa MLAs who joined BJP rejected by High Court

The petitions by the Congress & the MGP (Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party) that sought the disqualification of 12 Goa MLAs who had defected to the BJP in 2019 was rejected by the Bombay High Court on Thursday.

The “petitioners have not been able to make out a case for interference in the impugned orders passed by the Speaker”, news agency the news agency quoted the court as saying.

Assembly Speaker Rajesh Patnekar’s last year’s decision to dismiss two petitions seeking disqualification “cannot be said to be militating against the object of introduction of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution on the touchstone of political & constitutional morality,” the court further said.

Of the 12 MLAS, 10 had defected from the Congress and two from the MGP, Goa’s oldest regional party.

The MLAs had claimed that since they constituted two-thirds of the strength, it was a valid merger & not a defection under the 10th schedule of the constitution.