Jharkhand High Court on Wednesday admitted the petition filed by Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) chief Babulal Marandi seeking re-scheduling of Rajya Sabha elections till the fate of six MlAs, who changed their sides to the BJP, was decided by the Speaker. It will be heard on June 4.
“We mentioned the urgency petition filed by Babulal Marandi requesting the court to defer the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections till the fate of the six MlAs was decided by the Speaker,” said Advocate RN Sahay. “How the vote of six MlAs could be decided if it was not clear whether they belonged to JVM or BJP,” asked Sahay.
“On the one hand, Election Commission of India says that JVM has eight MlAs while Jharkhand Vidhan Sabha declared that six out of eight MlAs have merged with the BJP….. A sense of confusion has been created which must be removed,” Sahay said.
Earlier, during the last Rajya Sabha elections Marandi had also 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.
“The Speaker, in its order of February 12, 2015 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 further argued that it was beyond jurisdiction of the Speaker to pass such an interim order of merging the defected MlAs with the BJP. “Moreover, Marandi had also opposed the list of MlAs prepared by the Assembly Secretariat on June 24 last year, which was totally different from the list prepared by the Election Commission,” he pointed out.
The six MlAs—Navin Jaiswal, Amar Kumar Bauri, Ganesh Ganjhu, Alok Chaurasia, Janki Prasad Yadav and Randhir Singh, after getting elected on the JVM ticket had officially joined the BJP on February 11, taking its tally in the 81-member State Assembly to 43. The ruling alliance currently has 47 legislators in the house, including four MlAs of AJSU Party, oldest pre-poll alliance partner of BJP in the State.