Even as Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker N Manohar was yet to take up the plea of the ruling Congress for disqualification of nine of its rebel MlAs, who were supporting the YSR Congress party, the rebel MlAs have themselves now approached the Speaker for their own dismissal.
12 MlAs, five of them from Telug Desam, who were now sitting on indefinite hunger strike along with the YSRCP president Vijayalakshmi on Friday, sent a formal letter to the Speaker requesting their dismissal from the Assembly.
While the Congress party’s strategy was to go slow so that the by-election does not become necessary, the rebel MlAs as well as the YSRCP was hoping for an early elections. Sensing that the speaker will take his own time in completing the formalities like issuing notices to the rebel MlAs and seeking their individual reply, the rebels have decided to mount pressure on him for an early decision.
In their own open letter the rebel MlAs demand that the Speaker should notify their assembly seats as vacant as they still have more than a year of their term. “We voted against the government and now we are sitting on indefinite fast along with YSRCP honorary President Vijayalakshmi”, they wrote in the letter.
Under section 151 (A) of the Representation of People's Act, by election to a vacant seat will not be necessary if the remaining term of the member was less than one year. In fact Congress approached the Speaker for disqualification of the rebels after taking in to calculation the fact that the remaining term of the assembly was less than one year.
In fact the whip made the representation to the Speaker for the disqualification only after getting the nod from the party high command. What provoked the move was that the rebel MlAs had voted in support of the no confidence motion moved by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti last month. However did not make any such demand for disqualification of its rebels.