Blow to Puducherry govt, SC upholds Kiran Bedi's decision to nominate 3 MLAs

 The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the decision of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor (LG) Kiran Bedi to nominate three Members of Legislative Assembly (MLA) to the Assembly.

The apex court opined that the "LG has the power to nominate. The decision comes after the Congress party challenged the decision saying that Bedi should have consulted the ruling party before the nomination of the three legislators.

Swaminathan, K. G. Shankar and V. Selvaganapathy were nominated by Bedi to the Assembly last year.The nominations were later challenged in the Madras High Court by MLA Dhanalakshmi Narayan, who claimed that the decision was taken without consulting Puducherry Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy.

However, the high court, on March 22, upheld the appointment of the three MLAs, declaring the nominations to be valid. Despite high court?s order, the MLAs were barred from entering the Assembly premises on March 26.