SC adjourns plea against Raj HC's refusal to stay BSP MLAs merger with Cong

The Supreme Court on Monday adjourned to August 24 the hearing on a petition filed by a BJP leader challenging the Rajasthan High Court order refusing to stay the merger of six BSP MLAs in the state with the Congress party.

A bench of Justice Arun Mishra adjourned the matter for August 24 after senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, appearing for BJP MLA Madan Dilawar, requested the court to take up the matter next week since the Rajasthan High Court is closed for three days due to Covid-19.

Advocate Sunil Fernandes, appearing for one of the respondents, submitted that the dictation of order by the High Court had begun on Friday but it could not be completed due to paucity of time and the High Court has indicated that the matter will be disposed of one way or the other.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to pass any interim orders remarking that it would be inappropriate for it to hear the case since the matter was pending and part heard before a single-judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court.

The single-judge bench of the High Court had earlier not granted any interim relief and refused to stay the participation of six MLAs in the proceedings of the House as Congress legislators.

Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had contested and won the 2018 Assembly elections on a BSP ticket but had later joined the Congress party in September 2019.

Dilawar has challenged the merger of the BSP MLAs with the Congress party questioning the Assembly Speaker CP Joshi's order dismissing his complaint without allowing him to have his say.

A petition challenging the order of Rajasthan Speaker CP Joshi allowing the merger is also pending before a single-judge bench of the Rajasthan High Court and is part heard.