JVM moves HC to ban defectors' voting rights

JVM(P) chief Babulal Marandi has filed a writ petition in the Jharkhand High Court, seeking a ban on the voting rights of six MlAs who left the party and sided with the BJP after having been declared as winners on its ticket.“We have demanded that the six defecting MlAs be stopped from voting during the Rajya Sabha election and if allowed, they will have to show their votes to the JVM agents rather than showing to the BJP agents,” said petitioner’s advocate RN Sahay.According to the petition, the interim order passed by the Assembly Speaker on February 12, 2015 should be cancelled as passing such an order was beyond the jurisdiction of the Jharkhand Assembly.

“The speaker in its order of February 12 said that the six MlA who defected from JVM (P) will be considered as BJP MlAs till further orders as prima facie it appears to be a matter of sub-para (2) of para (4) of the 10th schedule of the Constitution of India,” said the advocate. Sahay claimed that it was beyond the jurisdiction of Jharkhand Assembly Speaker to pass such an interim order of merging the defected MlAs with BJP.Moreover, Marandi has also opposed the list of MlAs prepared by the Assembly Secretariat on June 24, which was totally different from the list prepared by the Election Commission of India.

These six MlAs -- Navin Jaiswal, Amar Kumar Bauri, Ganesh Ganjhu, Alok Chaurasia, Janki Prasad Yadav and Randhir Singh, after getting elected on JVM (P) tickets had officially joined BJP on February 11, taking its tally in the 81-member state assembly to 43. The ruling alliance currently has 48 legislators in the house, including five MlAs of Ajsu Party, oldest pre-poll alliance partner of BJP in the state.