Suspense mounted today on the fate of the nine disqualified rebel Congress MLAs with the Uttarakhand High Court reserving its judgement for May 9, a day ahead of the floor test in the state Assembly for sacked Chief Minister Harish Rawat to seek a confidence vote.
"The hearing has been concluded. I will pronounce the judgement at 10.15 AM on May 9," Justice U C Dhyani said in brief remarks counsel at the conclusion of nearly three hours of arguments on both sides.
While ordering the floor test, the Supreme Court had said
that the disqualified MLAs cannot participate in the voting if they continue to remain disqualified at the time of voting.
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The court had observed that "if they (disqualified MLAs) have the same status" at the time of vote of confidence, they cannot participate in the voting in the House.
The court had also said, "However, our observation in praesenti will not cause any kind of prejudice to the merits of the case of disqualified Members of Legislative Assembly, which is sub-judice before the High Court."
At present, in the 70-member assembly, BJP has 28 MLAs, Congress has 27, BSP has 02, while there are three independent MLAs and one belongs to Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P) lawmaker. Nine MLAs are Congress rebels and one is a BJP rebel.
