SC agrees to hear Goa Congress leader’s plea against defection of MLAs to BJP
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a plea challenging a decision of the Goa assembly speaker rejecting a petition by the Congress for disqualification of eight of its MLAs who defected to the ruling BJP in 2022.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana admitted the appeal filed by Congress leader Girish Chodankar over the defection of the eight MLAs.
“Is there any conflict of opinion between the high courts,” the CJI asked while admitting the plea for final hearing. “Post the plea for final hearing before a three-judge bench,” he said.
At the outset, the counsel for the Congress leader said that 11 MLAs, who were elected on the party’s symbol, went away and merged with BJP.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi said that according to the 10th Schedule of the Constitution, if two-thirds of the legislature party merged with another party, then it amounted to merger of political parties also.
Rohatgi said the matter needed urgent hearing as the term of this assembly will also get over.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appeared for the office of the Speaker.
The eight MLAs form two-thirds of the Congress legislative wing, which meets a provision in the anti-defection law that allows a split in such cases without the members needing to resign and contest elections.
The defections took the NDA’s majority of 25 (20 BJP MLAs, MGP 2, Independents 3) in the Goa assembly to 33. The Congress was left with three MLAs and the Goa Forward Party has one. There are two AAP MLAs and one from the Revolutionary Goans Party in the assembly.
The Congress MLAs’ move to join the BJP had come at a time when Rahul Gandhi was leading the Bharat Jodo Yatra.
Earlier in December 2024, the top court had refused to entertain the plea against the speaker’s decision rejecting a disqualification petition of the Congress against the defection.
Observing it will not “become the court of first appeal”, the bench had asked Chodankar to move the Goa bench of the Bombay High Court and challenge the speaker’s decision.
