Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta on Thursday dismissed the Congress’ petition seeking MLA Kiran Choudhry’s disqualification from the State Assembly, citing technical grounds. According to an official statement, the petition did not meet the criteria under the ‘Disqualification of Members on the Ground of Defection Rules, 1986’ of the Legislative Assembly, leading to its rejection.

The Legislative Assembly Secretariat notified Congress leaders of the decision, following their request to disqualify Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry after her defection to the BJP. In a letter to the Speaker on June 19, Congress leaders — Aftab Ahmed, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha; and Bharat Bhushan, Congress’ Chief Whip — cited Choudhry’s resignation from the Indian National Congress and subsequent joining of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) as grounds for disqualification. They referenced her resignation letter, dated June 18 addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, asserting that she voluntarily gave up her party membership, thus violating the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which entails that “a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if they voluntarily give up their membership of such political party”.

“She has incurred a clear disqualification and cannot be counted as a Member of Legislative Assembly for any intent and purpose on June 19, 2024,” the Congress leaders had wrote, requesting that a suitable notification or declaration regarding her disqualification may be made.