Karnataka high court upholds order to disqualify rebel MLAs

The Karnataka high court (HC) on Monday has upheld the disqualification of 5 independent MLAs by speaker KG Bopaiah under the anti-defection law. The verdict has come as a big relief for chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.

Yeddyurappa had won the trust vote last time with a margin of 106 against the opposition strength of 100. A verdict in favour of the MLAs would have put his government in trouble again.

The 5 independents have decided to move the Supreme Court against the HC verdict.

The speaker had disqualified the MLAs after they decided to vote against the Yeddyurappa government during trust vote.

The five legislators — Gulihatti Shekar, D Sudhakar, PM Narendra Swamy, Venkataramanappa and Shivaraj Tangadagi — had questioned the speaker’s order.

Expressing disappointment at the verdict opposition Congress and JD(S) have expressed their solidarity with the 5 independents.

JD(S) state president and former chief minister HD Kumarswamy said, “We expected this kind of a verdict from the high court. Two days back law and parliamentary affairs minister had openly said in Shimoga that BJP will definitely win the case. It shows something fishy has happened.”

Delivering the judgment the bench observed “the order passed by the speaker does not violate rules of natural justice. The order is not in violation of constitutional mandate or malafide or perverse and hence disqualification of the MLAs is in order”. The members are duty bound to adhere to democratic norms, it added.