Patna: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has sought the disqualification of Bihar MLCs Bansidhar Brajwasi and Rahul Raj, who had announced that they have joined the BJP, less than a week after getting elected as independents.
Yadav, who is the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, issued a statement to this effect late Saturday night, hours after Brajwasi and Raj made the announcement outside the BJP office, where they were also photographed carrying membership slips.
The RJD working president asserted that both the newly elected MLCs should be disqualified for “violating” the anti-defection law, while slamming the BJP for “making a mockery of the Constitution”.
“Both newly elected members of the Legislative Council have formally joined the BJP. Their decision to join a political party after being elected as independent candidates attracts the disqualification provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India,” Yadav said.
The former deputy chief minister said paragraph 2(2) of the Tenth Schedule expressly provides that any independently elected member shall be disqualified from membership of the House if they join any political party after the election.
“Article 191(2) of the Constitution provides that a member disqualified under the Tenth Schedule shall cease to be eligible to remain a member of the State Legislature. Paragraph 6(1) of the Tenth Schedule vests the authority to decide questions of disqualification on the ground of defection in the Chairman of the Legislative Council,” he said.
The post-election switch to the BJP by the two independently elected members “squarely attracts the constitutional provisions governing disqualification on the ground of defection”, Yadav said.
“A couple of years ago, several opposition MLAs had crossed over to the NDA, but the BJP Speaker did not cancel their membership despite written petitions by the respective parties. More recently, we have the example of Sahebganj MLA Raju Singh (BJP), who continues to be a member of the assembly despite having been convicted by a Delhi court long ago,” the RJD leader alleged.
Meanwhile, the BJP tried to wriggle out of the situation by claiming that Brajwasi and Raj, elected from Tirhut Graduates and Saran Teachers constituencies, respectively, had merely “extended support to the party”.
BJP spokesman Kuntal Krishna and MLA Manoj Sharma came out with video statements, after the controversy arose, asserting that the independent MLCs were “extending their support, reposing trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary and JD(U) president Nitish Kumar”.
In the recently held biennial polls to eight legislative council seats, the BJP and JD(U) had contested four each. While the BJP bagged two seats, JD(U) could manage to win only one.
Raj, who had recently quit the BJP, told PTI Videos on Saturday: “I took that decision because of coalition compulsions. But, I have always been a BJP worker with full faith in the chief minister’s leadership, and have taken the party membership again.”
He also claimed that “as per rules, an Independent MLC shall be deemed to be the party’s authorised candidate if he takes the membership within 15 days (of election)”.
Brajwasi said that he took the decision to join the BJP after a discussion with the chief minister, “who convinced me that I would be able to raise the issues of my constituency better upon joining the party”.
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