Bhubaneswar: The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has moved the Orissa High Court challenging Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy’s decision to dismiss its petition seeking disqualification of eight party MLAs accused of defying the party whip during the March Rajya Sabha elections.
BJD chief whip and senior MLA Pramila Mallik said she filed a writ petition before the High Court on Thursday, alleging that the Speaker dismissed the petition “unilaterally” without giving the party an opportunity to be heard.
“We had sought disqualification of eight MLAs for their anti-party activities and for defying the collective decision of the party. The Speaker dismissed our petition without giving us a hearing,” Mallik told reporters on Friday.
BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said the party was aware that there was no provision for a whip in Rajya Sabha elections and that legislators were free to vote according to their conscience. However, he said the party had accused the eight MLAs of defying its directives and skipping urgent meetings convened ahead of the polls.
The Speaker had in June dismissed separate disqualification petitions filed by the BJD and Congress against 11 MLAs—eight from the BJD and three from the Congress—over alleged cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The BJD had alleged that its MLAs Chakramani Kanhar, Devi Ranjan Tripathy, Arvind Mohapatra, Sanatan Mahakud, Subasini Jena, Naba Kishore Mallick and Souvic Biswal, among others, violated the anti-defection provisions under the Tenth Schedule by acting against the party’s official stand.
In a June 19 notification, the Assembly secretariat said the BJD petitions were “cryptic, vague, unsubstantiated” and did not meet the statutory requirements. It also said the petitions failed to comply with mandatory provisions of the Members of Odisha Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1987, including prescribed verification requirements.
The Congress had separately sought disqualification of Sofia Firdous, Ramesh Jena and Dasarath Gamang.
The 11 MLAs were accused of cross-voting in the March 16 election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. The BJD, in an understanding with the Congress and CPI(M), had fielded urologist Dr Datteswar Hota as a joint Opposition candidate. He lost to BJP-backed independent candidate and former Union minister Dilip Ray, with cross-voting by Opposition MLAs alleged to have played a role.
