By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: The State Assembly Speaker Charles Pyngrope will seek views from constitutional experts before taking the final call on the issue of defection of 12 NCP legislators to NPP.
Giving this indication, the Speaker informed he had received the letter written NCP’s national general secretary DP Tripathy.
“I am also examining the various provisions of the Tenth Schedule,” Pyngrope said over phone from Guwahati on Monday before leaving for Colombo to attend the ‘Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference 2012’ slated from September 11 to 15.
On the complaint lodged by Tripathi, Pyngrope said, “It merits reply since the query came from a national party member”.
According to him, the complaint could have come from any member of the state legislature.
“Since I am out of station I may forward my reply to the State Assembly Secretary who in turn can send the same to Tripathi,” he said.
As per the Meghalaya Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules 1988, section 6(2) “A petition in relation to a member may be made in writing to the Speaker by any other member of the House”.
However, the Speaker informed that he could come to any conclusion only after seeking legal opinion on the matter since the complaint came from a member of the party and not from any NCP legislator.
The Speaker cited the case of former BJP legislator from Pynthorumkhrah, AL Hek who defected to the Congress earlier. “In Hek’s case nothing could be done after the complaint against him came from the BJP and not from a member of the House.
Since Hek was the lone BJP member, nobody was left in the House to lodge a complaint.
But as far as NCP is concerned, the situation is different. The party still has two members who have not shifted their allegiance to NPP — Deputy Speaker Sanbor Shullai and Rangsakona MLA Adolf Lu Hitler Marak.