Assembly Speaker expels rebel Congress MLAs
Guwahati: Nine legislators of ruling Congress, who were recently expelled from the party after they had joined the BJP, were today disqualified from the Assam Assembly by Speaker Pranab Gogoi under anti defection laws.
Delivering his judgment two days after hearing both the petitioners, ruling Congress party and the nine MLAs, Gogoi ruled that the legislators would lose their position as elected public representatives.
Informing of the Speaker’s decision, Assembly principal secretary PK Das said, “After hearing all sides and in accordance with the law, the Speaker has decided to disqualify the nine MLAs.”
The disqualified MLAs are: Pijush Hazarika , Jayanta Malla Baruah , Pallab Lochan Das, Pradan Barua, Rajen Borthakur, Bolin Chetia, Binanda Saikia, Kripanath Mallah and Abu Taher Bepari. They had joined BJP in October and were already expelled from the primary membership of Congress for six years. Meanwhile, BJP’s state president and Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal said in Dibrugarh that the expelled MLAs, who are all BJP members now, would approach the Gauhati High Court against the Speaker’s decision.
These nine MLAs had followed former Congress minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sharma’s footsteps to leave Congress and join the BJP. Dr Shamra on his own had quit as MLA after he had joined the BJP.
Former minister and Congress chief whip Nilamoni Sen Deka, who had moved the Speaker seeking disqualification of the MLAs, said the judgement was in the spirit of the law.
The ruling Congress now has 67 MLAs in a 126-member Assam Assembly and is cionfortable placed to complete its term sans any hitch.
