MP Cong slams ‘partisan’ Speaker as imbroglio over plea to disqualify rebel MLA’ drags on

Birla, who belongs to the Gurjar community, became MLA for the first time in 2018 from Barwaha in Khargone by defeating three-time BJP legislator Hitendrasingh Solanki by more than 30,000 votes. Last year, on October 24, he joined the saffron party before the Khandwa Lok Sabha by-poll, citing dissatisfaction with the Congress over issues of his region’s development. At the event, Chouhan said, “Badi der kardi bhai Nandlala. Sachin Birla Nimar [Nimar region] ke mati ka lala hai, use koi khareed nahi sakta. Congress ke pass Birla ke liye waqt nahi tha. (Brother, your entry to the party got delayed. Sachin Birla is the son of the soil of Nimar region, no one can purchase his loyalty. Congress did not have time for Birla).”

His exit was another jolt for the Congress, which lost its government in the state in March 2020 after 25 incumbent MLAs followed Jyotiraditya Scindia to the BJP. The Congress also lost the Khandwa by-poll as the BJP’s Gyaneshwar Patil won by 82,140 votes. The by-election had become necessary following the death of the BJP’s Nandkumar Singh Chauhan.

Two weeks after Birla’s defection, senior Congress MLA Govind Singh submitted an application — under Anti-Defection Law, 1986 — to Girish Gautam to get Birla immediately disqualified from the House. However, on December 29, the Speaker turned down the MLA’s application, saying it was incomplete and lacked supporting evidence. In his rejection letter, Gautam pointed out that the application was neither self-attested as per the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, nor did it contain the links of news reports mentioned.

Almost a month later, Khargone MLA Ravi Joshi of the Congress filed another application on the matter. The Speaker said he summoned Joshi on March 2 but the MLA sought a postponement of the hearing. After Gautam denied the request, a delegation of the Congress’s legal cell headed by JP Dhanopia met the Speaker on February 27 and sought another date. Gautam then decided to allow Joshi and his lawyer to present their case on March 24.

“We were told that since the first application moved by Govind Singh was rejected on technical grounds, the Speaker was unsure if he had the legal power to review another application on the same matter,” said a senior leader who was part of the Congress delegation.

Apprehensive that the Speaker will reject his application too, Joshi dashed off a letter to Gautam on March 7, saying his application should be treated independently as he was not seeking a review of Govind Singh’s plea.

The Khargone MLA wrote, “Irrespective of their party, every MLA has the right to move an application seeking disqualification of another MLA as per rules of the anti-defection law. And every application should be scrutinised on the evidence and merit and treated as an independent application. The application moved by Govind Singh was rejected by the Speaker on technical grounds and not on merit. My application is not seeking a review of the application moved by Govind Singh, it is instead an independent application moved seeking disqualification of Sachin Birla as an MLA.”

Joshi argued that the rule does not protect defectors on technical grounds. “In such a situation taking the pretext of a rejected application to reject a competent application as per the laid down rules is illegal, inappropriate and unconstitutional,” he added.

Girish Gautam said he had summoned Joshi and his lawyer on March 2 to “decide on their application but they did not come and sought another date”. He added, “But as there was Budget Session coming up, date of March 24 has been given to them when they have been asked to come and make their submissions. Based on this, it will be decided if their application for disqualification can be accepted as I have already rejected a previous application on the same matter.”

The Speaker further said, “We have to check if the second application moved is maintainable or not considering the first one was rejected on technical grounds. If we will find it acceptable then when we will issue notices to the other side, get their side and reach a conclusion on whether he has to be disqualified or not.”

An enraged Dhanopia said the constant delay in the matter was a “mockery’ of the anti-defection law”. He added, “It is amply clear in Sachin Birla’s case that the Speaker is trying to protect the interests of the ruling party to which he belongs. The anti-defection law should have a provision that the assembly member can not only approach the Speaker but also to the Court.”

At present, the Congress has 96 MLAs in the Assembly, down from the tally of 114 it had secured in the 2018 Assembly elections. Meanwhile, the BJP’s tally has gone up from 109 to 127 legislators in the 230-member House.