Expelled AAP MLA Vinod Kumar Binny on Monday filed a plea before the Delhi High Court, seeking directions to declare him an “independent MLA”. His plea also sought to set aside a decision by the Assembly Speaker, which compelss him to follow the AAP party whip. Though the Assembly has been kept in “suspended animation” by the Lt-Governor, the MLAs continue to hold their seat during the period. In the plea, Binny claimed that since he was expelled from the party, he could not be compelled to follow the party whip and should not be disqualified from his membership for defying the party whip. “The petitioner, being an independent member, should be allowed to exercise his democratic right of voting in favour of or against any motion of the House,” the plea said. Binny, the MLA from Laxmi Nagar, was expelled from the AAP on January 26 on grounds of “indiscipline”, after he held a press conference and spoke out against the AAP Delhi government. Binny had accused the party of moving away from the promises made in the run-up to the elections and called Arvind Kejriwal autocratic. The plea stated that after his expulsion, Binny had approached the Speaker, seeking clarification on the status of his Assembly membership and his right to vote according to his choice. The AAP had issued two whips, on February 12 and 13, asking him to be present in the Assembly for its session. Citing a 1996 judgment passed by the Supreme Court, the Speaker had said Binny was obliged to follow the party’s decisions even after expulsion. However, Binny argued that the Supreme Court had given relief to expelled Samajwadi Party MPs Amar Singh and Jaya Prada in 2010, and was deliberating on the issue of whether an expelled member could be disqualified under the law, if he chose to defy a party whip. In the plea filed through advocates V K Malik and Rahul Raj Malik, Binny has claimed that the Speaker’s office had given an “illegal” reply, which was aimed at curtailing “the democratic rights of the petitioner as an independent member of the Legislative Assembly”. The plea also states that ‘The Members of Delhi Legislative Assembly (Disqualifications on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1996’ were “silent on the expulsion of a member from the party being a ground for disqualification”. The plea said there was no legal reason for the whip or direction of the political party to be binding on an expelled member. The matter is expected to come up for hearing on Tuesday
