[BREAKING] Delhi High Court rejects plea by Chirag Paswan challenging decision to name Pashupati Kumar Paras as leader of LJP in Lok Sabha

The Delhi High Court on Friday dismissed a plea by son of former Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Chirag Paswan, challenging the decision of the Lok Sabha Speaker to name his uncle, Pashupati Kumar Paras as the leader of the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) [Chirag Paswan & Anr. Vs. Lok Sabha Secretary & Ors]..Paras had also been inducted into the Union cabinet pursuant to his being recognised as the leader of LJP. .The LJP is part of the National Democratic Alliance and has six MPs in the Lok Sabha. Ever since the death of Ram Vilas Paswan in October 2020, his son and uncle have been involved in a tussle on who would be the political successor to the party..While dismissing the plea, the Court held,"In any event, it is well settled that the power to regulate the internal affairs of the House is the prerogative of the Hon’ble Speaker who shall exercise this power as he finds fit. In the absence of any prima facie procedural irregularities in the appointment of respondent no.3 as the party leader of the petitioner no.2 in the Lok Sabha, I find absolutely no reason to exercise my writ jurisdiction to interfere with the decision of the respondent no. 1.".Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Union of India, objected to Paswan's petition stating that the petitioner was seeking to settle an inter-party dispute which was already before Speaker Om Birla.Appearing for the respondents, Senior Advocate Rajshekhar Rao placed reliance on the Supreme Court judgment in G Vishwanathan vs. Speaker, TN Legislative Assembly, in which the top court had refrained from entertaining the plea on the ground that the Speaker was already dealing with it. After hearing the parties, Justice Rekha Palli said that the petition was misconceived. "I find the present petition absolutely misconceived. The Court will not interfere with the said discretion in the present case. Even though the learned counsel for the petitioner has placed reliance on Rule 2 (f) and 3 (1) of the Tenth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, this Court finds that they do not support the cause of the Petitioner in this case," the Court ordered.The Court was also inclined to impose costs on the petitioner, but ultimately refrained from doing so upon repeated requests by the petitioner's counsel. Advocate AK Bajpai represented the petitioner. .After Supreme Court's order, Manipur Assembly Speaker disqualifies BJP MLA TS Singh under Tenth Schedule [Read Speaker's order].Read order here :