SC refuses to hear plea claiming Congress MLAs being forcefully held captive

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to hear a plea filed by the brother of Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Manoj Choudhary seeking his release claiming that he, along with other MLAs, was being forcefully kept in captivity by BJP members and Karnataka police.

Advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for the petitioner, told a bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud that a "very stable" government had been functioning in the state for the past 18 months.

"Today, we are in a peculiar situation. The public of the state trusted the Congress party (with 114 seats) while the BJP had won 109 seats. The single largest party had won the vote of confidence on that day," Dave told the court.

Dave accused the BJP of using force and might to destroy democratic principles.

Congress leaders, including former chief minister Digvijay Singh, have accused the BJP of forcefully holding its MLAs captive and trying to topple the Madhya Pradesh government.

This development comes amid the political crisis in Madhya Pradesh following the exit of Jyotiraditya Scindia from the Congress party.

Scindia's departure was followed by 22 Congress MLAs resigning from the party as well as from the state legislative Assembly.

The resignation of these many MLAs has left the Kamal Nath government in crisis.