Bhubaneswar: The Orissa High Court will reconsider on October 29 the plea filed by BJD chief whip Pramila Mallik challenging the Odisha Assembly Speaker’s rejection of her petitions seeking the disqualification of eight party MLAs over alleged cross-voting in the March Rajya Sabha elections.
Justice Mruganka Sekhar Sahoo fixed the date for fresh admission of the matter after senior advocate Milan Kanungo, appearing for Mallik, informed the court on October 13 that his client intended to approach the Speaker afresh by filing new disqualification petitions in the prescribed format.
Kanungo submitted that the fresh petitions would comply with the relevant provisions of the Members of Odisha Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1987, including Rules 6(6) and 6(7).
He argued that the procedural defects cited in the Speaker’s June 19 notification rejecting the original petitions were curable and that Mallik intended to rectify them while approaching the authority again.
Recording the submission, Justice Sahoo observed that if the petitioner wished to approach the competent authority afresh, the court need not undertake an adjudicatory process concerning either the maintainability or the merits of the writ petition in its present form.
With the consent of the parties, the court directed that the matter be listed for fresh admission on October 29, 2026. The state counsel is scheduled to make submissions on that date.
While rejecting Mallik’s original petitions, the Speaker had emphasised the need to follow the prescribed procedure for disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The June 19 notification described the Speaker’s role in such proceedings as quasi-judicial and highlighted the serious consequences that disqualification could have for an elected legislator and the electorate’s mandate.
The case was reassigned to Justice Sahoo after Justice R K Pattanaik recused himself from hearing the petitions. The Chief Justice subsequently assigned the matter to Justice Sahoo through an administrative order.
Five of the eight petitions, concerning suspended BJD MLAs Arvind Mohapatra, Souvic Biswal, Sanatan Mahakud, Chakramani Kanhar and Subasini Jena, were taken up on October 13.
The petitions challenge the Speaker’s decision to reject the complaints seeking the disqualification of the eight legislators over alleged cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections held in March.
The High Court has not examined the merits of the disqualification allegations in the present proceedings.
