Following the petitioner Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) concluding its arguments, two of the respondents—Navin Jaiswal and Amar Kumar Barui (Now BJP MLAs) — argued before the Assembly Speaker court to keep only the provisions of the 10th schedule of the Constitution in mind before coming to any conclusion. The provision fixes consent of two-third of any party legislators’ as a prerequisite for negating the anti-defection strictures in the law.
Senior advocate Rajiv Ranjan presenting the case for the two legislators, who had switched to the BJP after winning the Assembly polls on the JVM tickets along with four of their other companions in 2015, argued before Speaker Dinesh Oraon on Friday, that theirs was a merger.
“That was in fact not a split but merger of the JVM into the BJP. JVM at that time and even before was passing through turbulences. Even during the third Vidhan Sabha, seven of their sitting MLAs had quit the party while one got expelled from the House. The party was being run through dictatorship thus the merger was done as per the wishes of the people and party workers,” said the lawyer.
He further argued before the tribunal to not to digress on other things but look at the case in the light of the 10th schedule of the Constitution which desires certain number. “The lawyer tried to say that as per the law at least six MLAs were required for the merger in the case and the desired number was there. The MLAs were well within their rights to do what they did,” said an official of the Assembly present during the hearing.
On his part, the Speaker urged the lawyer to present judgments came at different courts and Houses in the cases of similar nature before the tribunal which can help him to understand the case in better manner. Dinesh Oraon at the same time fixed October 5 as next date when the arguments from the respondents would continue. Sources suggest that the lawyer may be requiring two more dates to conclude and after that four other MLAs in question namely Alok Chaurasia, Ganesh Ganjhu, Janki Prasad Yadav and Randhir Singh would be presenting their cases likewise.