Rebel Congress MLAs of Uttarakhand, who were disqualified by the Assembly Speaker after their revolt against former Chief Minister Harish Rawat, today told the High Court that that going against the state government was not tantamount to going against the party.
During a hearing on a petition by the rebel Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification, the MLAs' senior lawyer Dinesh Dwiwedi, arguing on behalf of the petitioners before Justice U C Dhyani of the high court in Nainital, said that going against the state government was not tantamount to going against the party and hence their disqualification under the anti-defection law was not correct.
Nageshwar Rao, who was part of the panel of counsel for the rebel legislators, said the disqualified MLAs had neither quit the party they belonged to nor joined another, then what could be the ground for their disqualification as members of the state Assembly.
Senior Supreme Court Lawyer Kapil Sibal will argue on behalf of the Speaker before the bench tomorrow. Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal had disqualified nine rebel Congress MLAs, including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, from the Assembly on March 27.
A political crisis had erupted in Uttarakhand on March 18 when nine MLAs of the Congress had alligned with BJP to demand a division of votes on an approporpation bill over on the state's annual budget.
The turn of events after that had led to imposition of President's rule in the state.
Only six of the nine disqualified MLAs have gone to court challenging the Speaker's action.
