The petition has sought cancellation of both the disqualification order as well as the bypoll that have been announced for the seat which was represented by Barad.
Congress MLA Bhaga Barad has moved the Gujarat high court challenging the speaker Rajendra Trivedi's move to disqualify him. The petition is likely to come up for hearing on Tuesday. The petition has sought cancellation of both the disqualification order as well as the bypoll that have been announced for the seat which was represented by Barad.
Earlier in the day, Justice RM Chhaya had recused from the case. The petition has challenged the disqualification on the grounds that the Assembly speaker has no power to suspend an MLA in such a matter. It has also challenged the 'illegal' announcement of the Talala bypoll.
The petition by Barad states that he was suspended after being convicted in a case but the power to suspend was beyond the scope of the speaker.
It further said that before any such order is passed, the speaker is duty bound to hear the aggrieved party. The petition states that the move by the speaker to disqualify Barad is a perversion of the natural course of justice and is one-sided.
The petition further said that within days of being convicted, the same court had stayed the order. The petition states that while the speaker showed undue haste in disqualifying him after a guilty verdict was pronounced, similar haste was not shown when a stay on the said verdict was made.
It further said that even the election commission failed to follow the due procedure when it announced a by-election for the Talala seat despite the fact that the entire matter was sub judice.
Barad was convicted in a case of illegal mining and awarded a jail sentence last week. A court in Gir Somnath had awarded jail term of two years and nine months to the MLA on March 1 in the 24-year-old case.
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