MP crisis: Speaker terms as 'jugaad' tendering of resignations by MLAs to reduce govt in minority

Madhya Pradesh Assembly Speaker N P Prajapati Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a new kind of 'jugaad' of ensuring resignations of ruling party MLAs has been invented to circumvent the anti-defection law and ensure fall of an elected government.

The speaker, represented by senior advocate A M Singhvi, told a bench headed by Justice D Y Chandrachud that the anti-defection law was framed by the Rajiv Gandhi government to ensure that lawmakers do not negate the popular mandate by changing side.

He said that initially it was provided that one third of lawmakers of a party will have to break away to save it from the law and later, the proportion of lawmakers was raised to two-third of the strength of the legislature party.

Terming the new trend of tendering resignations by lawmakers to ensure the fall of a majority government as a 'jugad', Singhvi said: "The object in all this is that there should not be an immediate by-election and to bring the strength of the assembly down, MLAs resign and the party which was in minority gains majority and becomes the ruling party.

"These MLAs after resignation will become ministers or chairpersons of some state bodies without facing the electorate."
Singhvi referred to Article 212 of the Constitution and said that it barred courts from taking cognizance of the actions that take place inside the House
Before Singhvi's answer, senior advocate Maninder Singg, appearing for rebel MLAs, said, "We do not want to appear before the Speaker. It is a question of our safety."