BJP meets MP Guv after speaker disqualifies MLA

A BJP delegation on Tuesday met the Madhya Pradesh governor and urged him to review the state Assembly speaker's decision to disqualify its MLA Prahlad Lodhi, following his conviction in a criminal case.

Speaker NP Prajapati on Saturday disqualified Lodhi after a Bhopal court last week sentenced the Pawai MLA and 12 others to two years in jail for attacking Raipura tehsildar RK Verma in August, 2014 for seizing a tractor smuggling sand.

"We have conveyed to Governor Lalji Tandon that the Assembly Speaker's decision to disqualify Pawai MLA Prahlad Lodhi is not in accordance with the law," Sitasharan Sharma, ex-Speaker and MLA, who led the BJP delegation, told PTI.

Sharma said the delegation also conveyed that in such cases, as per Constitutional provisions, only the governor can take a decision about an MLA's disqualification.

"The Assembly Speaker's decision is not in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and Representation of The People Act," Sharma added.

He said the party would give a detailed memorandum on the issue to Tandon later in the evening, and expressed hope Lodhi would get relief from the High Court.

The Congress' state media cell coordinator Narendra Saluja, meanwhile, said the decision was taken as per a Supreme Court ruling of 2013.

Speaker Prajapati had earlier said, as per the SC ruling, a public representative should be disqualified as soon as he or she is convicted, and the rule was followed in Lodhi's case after the Assembly secretariat got a certified copy of the trial court's order.

An Assembly official said, as per the apex court's ruling, a legislator is disqualified if he or she is sentenced to two years or more in jail.

With Lodhi's disqualification, the BJP's strength in the 230-member MP Assembly now stands at 107 against the Congress' 115.