Goa Congress President moves Supreme Court against Bombay High Court verdict dismissing plea to disqualify turncoat MLAs

Goa Congress President Girish Chodankar has moved the Supreme Court against the Bombay High Court verdict that dismissed a plea seeking disqualification of 12 Members of the Goa legislative assembly for alleged defection from Congress party and Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2019 [Girish Chodankar v. Speaker, Goa Legislative Assembly]..The Bombay High Court at Goa had on February 24, 2022, dismissed the disqualification pleas and upheld the decision of the Goa speaker in this regard. The special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court has stated that the speaker allowed protection to the Congress defectors by invoking the protection guaranteed to a legislature party member when the original political party of a member of the House merges with another party..The speaker had held that the “deemed merger" of Congress with the BJP had taken place and he afforded protection to the defecting members, the plea stated..Chodankar's appeal argued that the speaker's decision was upheld by the Bombay High Court, "in teeth of the settled principles of merger of a political party under Schedule X passed by the Full Bench of the very same High Court in Shah Faruq Shabir & Ors. v. Govindrao Ramu Vasave & Ors. .The appeal before the Supreme Court further contended that the High Court gave an erroneous interpretation by construing the merger of the original political party merely at the hands of two-thirds majority of any legislature party, "completely disrobing the original political party of any role with respect to its merger and resultantly leaving the original political party at the mercy of the legislature party.""Suffice it to say that such an interpretation would render Para 4 of Schedule X otiose and unworkable and would stands at odds with the object of enactment of the Schedule," the plea said. .The plea thus framed the following questions of law:1. Whether the merger of the original political party is a necessary pre-condition for the members of a legislature party to claim merger of their legislature party?2. More importantly, whether the protection granted under Para 4(1) of Schedule X can be granted to members of the legislature party in the absence of the merger of the original political party?.The appeal stated that due to the High Court order, the following anomalous situations would arise:(i) The more prominent original political party would be at the mercy of the whimsical musings of the majority members of a less conspicuous legislature party; (ii) The members of a legislature party set up the original political party would hold the fountainhead of their own authority at ransom as they would wield the sword of unilateral merger at their beck and call; and (iii) Political parties, without having contested elections, would be empowered to acquire 2/3rd members of the House of legislature parties and, therefore, become a part of the House without having the mandate of the electorate that it is representing..The SLP has been filed by Lawmen & White, through advocates Ujjawal Anand Sharma, Prashant Sivarajan and Advocate-on-Record D Kumanan..In the 2017 polls to the 40-member Goa Assembly, the Congress emerged as the single largest party by winning 17 seats, while the BJP had bagged 13 seats. The BJP then quickly forged an alliance with some regional outfits and independents to form the government in the State.Over the next five years, a number of Congress MLAs quit the party, reducing its strength in the House to two. Polls to elect the new 40-member Goa Assembly were held on February 14 this year, and the counting of votes will be done on March 10..Last month, the Bombay High Court had upheld the order passed by the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly on the ground that the merger was deemed and hence the members ought not be disqualified..[BREAKING] Bombay High Court dismisses pleas seeking disqualification of 12 Goa MLAs for alleged defection to BJP