Patna HC upholds speaker's order on four rebel JD-U MLAs

In a major set back to four rebel JD-U legislators, the Patna High Court on Tuesday upheld the decision of the Bihar assembly speaker to terminate their membership, a government counsel said.

Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary had terminated the membership of the four rebel JD-U legislators under the anti-defection law after the ruling party sought action against them for allegedly cross-voting in a Rajya Sabha by-poll last year.

A double-bench of the court, after hearing an appeal of the JD-U, said the speaker's decision was right.

A single-judge bench of Patna High Court in early January this year had set aside the speaker's November 1, 2014, order terminating membership of rebel legislators Gyanendra Singh Gyanu, Neeraj Kumar Bablu, Rahul Sharma and Ravindra Rai.

The JD-U filed an appeal in the court against the order.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar, who is also JD-U chief whip and complainant from the ruling party against the four rebels, welcomed the court's order.

"It has vindicated the party's stand," he said.

However, Ravinder Rai, one of the four rebels, said they would challenge the high court's order in the Supreme Court.

"We will also go to people's court," he said.

All the four rebel legislators were initially suspended from the party for six years last year and later expelled from the party.

In the last few months, these rebels have been openly supporting former chief minister Jitan Ram Manjhi and opposing Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.