BENGALURU: Legal experts from Karnataka have said that the Supreme Court’s judgment on Wednesday will be a guide for Speakers of all states in India in future, in deciding cases of disqualification of MLAs. Affirming the findings of the apex court on disqualification, as well as barring the 17 ‘disqualified’ MLAs of the Congress and JDS from contesting in the remaining period of the current assembly term, the legal experts said the Karnataka Assembly Speaker had crossed his jurisdiction.
Senior advocate and former Advocate-General BV Acharya said there are two points in the order passed by the Speaker, and both points are addressed by the Supreme Court. First, the apex court upheld the Speaker’s decision disqualifying the MLAs. Second, the apex court rightly set aside the Speaker’s decision to bar those MLAs from contesting polls till the expiry of the current assembly period, said Acharya.
He explained that the Speaker had crossed his jurisdiction by barring the MLAs from contesting polls in the current assembly period, as Articles 164(B) and 361(B) of the Constitution clearly state that MLAs can contest fresh elections. Therefore, giving the MLAs an opportunity to contest is not a “concession”, as the Constitution itself provides them this opportunity, he said.
Another senior advocate and former Advocate-General Ashok Harnahalli said there is clarity in the court’s verdict on various issues raised after the Speaker disqualified the MLAs. Harnahalli explained that the court had said that the Speaker should accept the resignation papers if MLAs tender them voluntarily, instead of considering extraneous reasons in such a situation. The apex court also made it clear that the Speaker has no jurisdiction in restraining MLAs from contesting the next election, and should be impartial, Harnahalli said.