Advocate General to study disqualification petitions

SHILLONG, Sep 19: Assembly Speaker Thomas A Sangma on Thursday said the disqualification petitions against three former Congress MLAs would be referred to the state’s Advocate General for an opinion although he considers his decision in their case “valid”.
Ronnie V Lyngdoh, the lone Congress MLA, filed the disqualification petitions against Celestine Lyngdoh, Charles Marngar, and Gabriel Wahlang with a 14-day deadline for the Speaker to act on them.
“I received two petitions from Congress seeking the disqualification of three members. I have decided to refer it for the opinion of the Advocate General,” the Speaker said.
Sangma downplayed the threat of Congress to approach the High Court of Meghalaya if he does not disqualify the three MLAs, who “merged” with the NPP, within 14 days. “It is not my way of doing things just because they are putting pressure on me,” he said.
He said the office of the Speaker is doing its research on the matter. “The claim of the party (Congress) that the three MLAs had already been suspended had not come to my knowledge during the merger with NPP,” he said.
“As far Speaker’s office is concerned, suspending a member is not my concern. The Speaker’s office cannot decide on that. It is only concerned about the knowledge that they were still Congress legislators,” he added.
Congress asserted that the case against the three Congress-turned-NPP legislators is strong.