Congress to seek disqualification of eight Nagaland MLAs

In the wake of court ruling on the disqualification of nine Uttarakhand legislators, the Congress leaders in Nagaland are now optimistic about the disqualification of eight other party lawmakers who defected last year and backed the T.R. Zeliang government in the northeastern state.

"Eight Congress MLAs had voted in favour of the Zeliang ministry on February 5, 2015, during a trial of strength. Later, they defected from the Congress and joined the ministry. We will cite the Uttarakhand precedence and pray for their disqualification once the case comes up for hearing in the Supreme Court in July," a Nagaland state Congress source said here.

The party has enlisted the services of senior counsel and party leader Salman Khurshid to take up the case in the Supreme Court.

"It is a good case for us to win," the source said.

The Supreme Court on May 9 refused to put on hold the disqualification of nine rebel Uttarakhand Congress legislators and ruled that they could not be allowed to participate in the trust vote sought by the Harish Rawat government.

The Uttarakhand High Court earlier upheld their disqualification by assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal under the anti-defection law.

In Nagaland, Congress sources earlier alleged that eight separate petitions submitted to the assembly speaker for their disqualification did not yield result.

The eight members of the assembly claimed they had "merged" with the ruling Naga People's Front (NPF) but the Congress state unit maintained that "no notification was received" from the speaker on whether the eight legislators had merged with the NPF or whether the speaker had accepted their merger with the NPF.

The eight members elected on Congress tickets in 2013 are S.I. Jamir, Tokheho Yepthomi, C. Apok Jamir, S. Hukavi Zhimomi, Imtiwapang Aier, Imtikumzuk, Eshak Konyak and Khekaho Assumi.

--IANS

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