UP Speaker rejects BSP plea to debar rebel party MLAs

LUCKNOW, March 23: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi today rejected Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) petitions seeking disqualif...

LUCKNOW, March 23: Uttar Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi today rejected Bahujan Samaj Party’s (BSP) petitions seeking disqualification of rebel party MLAs who had helped the Kalyan Singh ministry win the trust vote last year.

The Speaker also granted recognition to the 19-member breakaway group of BSP MLAs. The splinter group was recognised as Jantantrik Bahujan Samaj Party in the Assembly. Tripathi dismissed all the 23 petitions filed against 13 BSP legislators under the Anti-Defection Law, saying the whip issued was "unconstitutional".

The petitions were filed by the then BSP legislature

group leader Mayawati and senior colleague R K Chaudhary before the Speaker after the rebel MLAs, violating the whip, voted in favour of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Kalyan Singh on the floor of the Vidhan Sabha on October 20, 1997.

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The rebel group submitted before the Speaker that it had the allegiance of more than 23 party MLAs and their breaking away from the 67-member BSP legislature partyconstituted a valid split.

In the jam-packed old Cabinet room, Tripathi announced that his order dealt with eight points in detail which were raised in the course of the hearing. The hearing had lasted a total of 50 hours over a period of five months. The Speaker’s report runs into 148 pages. As per the Speaker’s ruling, which is open to judicial scrutiny, no legislator who had voted in favour of the confidence vote sought by Kalyan Singh would face disqualification as the BSP whip did not fall under the provisions of the rule. The Speaker’s ruling, which ended the five-month-long suspense over the issue, formalised a split within the 67-member BSP and recognised the 19-member Jantantrik BSP as a separate entity.

All the Jantantrik BSP members are ministers in the Kalyan Singh ministry.Daya Ram Pal, the State president of the BSP, former BSP Speaker Barkhuram Verma, BSP Legislature Group Leader Swami Prasad Mourya and former advocate-general Umesh Chandra were also present when the Speaker announced hisruling. The Speaker, in his ruling, said Mayawati failed to prove through material facts that the whip issued by her was as per the requirement of the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.