HYDERABAD: Delivering what he described as a ‘‘balanced verdict,’’ Assembly Speaker KR Suresh Reddy on Monday accepted resignations of six TRS rebel MLAs and disqualified three others under 2(1)(a) of the 10th Schedule of the Anti-Defection Act, 1986.
A petition seeking disqualification of the nine MLAs, for voting against the party whip in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council election, had been pending with the Speaker for almost two years. As if they were anticipating the Speaker’s decision, six legislators submitted their resignation on Sunday.
Speaking to newsmen, the Speaker said there was no specific rule that he should not accept resignations submitted by the legislators even when a disqualification petition was pending. ‘‘I did a balancing act in giving the verdict in accordance with the Constitutional spirit. I should not be blamed for delay in giving judgement on the petitions (filed in March, 2007) as 22 sittings were held and reasonable opportunity was given to everyone to putforth their case,’’ he explained.
The Speaker’s judgement, however, would not have any impact on the six MLAs -- S Santosh Reddy, B Sara Rani, G Mukunda Reddy, K Lingaiah, D Srinivas Rao and Narayana Rao Patel -- as their resignations were accepted.
The three who faced disqualification are: M Satyanarayana Reddy, T Jayaprakash Reddy and S Babu Rao.
The Speaker felt the need for a Constitutional amendment to ensure that action under Anti-Defection Law was applied even to those who tendered resignations prior to the judgement.
Suresh Reddy maintained that there were no precedents for the kind of case that had come up before him and hoped that his decision would be useful for future reference.
Opposition parties, however, decried the Speaker’s action saying he had taken an unduly long time to deliver his verdict and had even allowed the MLAs in question to resign before they faced disqualification.