New Delhi: The Supreme Court said on Monday that it will hear Rajasthan BJP MLA Madan Dilawar’s plea challenging the merger of six BSP MLAs into the Congress on Tuesday.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Dilawar, urged the apex court to hear the matter urgently as the Assembly session is scheduled to begin in Rajasthan on August 14. A bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra then posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday.
Salve contended that the six BSP MLAs claimed that their party had merged with the Congress, and that the Assembly Speaker had passed an order accepting the merger in September 2019.
Salve argued that the BSP itself claimed to be an original political party, and it didn’t merge with the Congress in Rajasthan. He insisted that the question of merger cannot be decided in an abstract manner.
Salve said that his client had filed a disqualification petition in March 2020, which was dismissed by the Speaker on technical grounds in July. He said that his client has also moved the high court and a notice has been issued in the matter.
The petitoner contended that the Assemblys elections were held in Rajasthan on December 7, 2018 in which the six MLAs were elected on tickets issued by the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP).
Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had contested the polls on BSP tickets, but later defected to the Congress in September 2019.
