Allahabad HC issues notice on petition seeking disqualification of Yogi Adityanath

The Allahabad High Court today issued a notice to Attorney General of India on a petition seeking disqualification of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and his deputy, Keshav Prasad Maurya, from their respective posts.

The Lucknow bench of the high court has set the matter for next hearing on May 24.

A division bench comprising justices Sudhir Agrawal and Virendra Kumar passed the order on the Public Interest Litigation petition filed by Sanjai Sharma. The petitioner pleaded that a parliamentarian cannot not become the minister of a state government and this is in violation of article 101(2) of the Constitution of India and as such the appointment of Adityanath as the CM and Maurya as the Deputy CM should be set aside, for both are still continuing as MPs. The petitioner also sought that their Lok Sabha seats be declared vacant.

Sharma challenged the constitutionality of section 3(A) of the Prevention of Disqualification Act. Since the constitutionality of a central act cannot be tested without hearing the Attorney General, the court issued him notice.

Adityanath and Maurya were sworn-in on March 19. Both of them are likely to resign from their parliamentary seats only after casting their vote in the presidential election this July. As per norms, they have to be elected to the legislature in their states within six months since they were sworn in. They can contest elections to the state legislature only after quitting as MPs.