Amar’s plea against disqualification from House: SC seeks Centre’s response

Singh had sought adjudication on the subject if an expelled MP would be subject to the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) for not complying to party whips. Singh, who was in the Rajya Sabha, was thrown out of the party on January 1, 2017, after Akhilesh Yadav wrested the control of the party from Mulayam Singh Yadav. His term in Rajya Sabha is to end on July 4, 2022.

Singh’s counsel submitted that the court had in August 2016 left open the legal issue, which had been raised then as well by the former SP leader.

Noting that his tenure had already come to an end, the court had declined to revisit its two-decade-old verdict on the anti-defection law that maintained an elected or nominated member of Parliament of a political party is bound by its whip even after expulsion.

On Monday, the bench said: “We find, in the case at hand, the term of the petitioner shall be up to 04.07.2022. Thus, the reference that was made in the case of Amar Singh (2016), the present petitioner, remains to be dealt with as the same has not been answered with the efflux of time. As the question remains alive today, we think it appropriate that the matter should be placed before the larger bench for consideration of the questions.”