BHUBANESWAR: Speaker Pramila Mallik has disqualified two sitting MLAs, former minister Arabinda Dhali and Premananda Nayak, who recently joined BJP after resigning from BJD, as members of the Assembly.
They were disqualified in exercise of powers conferred on the speaker under paragraph 6(1) of the 10th schedule of the Constitution of India. The Speaker in separate orders issued for the MLAs said Dhali, an elected member of the Jayadev (SC) Assembly constituency, and Nayak, an elected member of the Telkoi (ST) Assembly constituency, have incurred disqualification in terms of paragraph 2 (1)(a) of the said schedule for being a member of the Odisha Legislative Assembly. The orders said Dhali and Nayak ceased to be the members of the Assembly with immediate effect and their seats will fall vacant.
The Speaker disqualified the two MLAs after government chief whip Prasanta Kumar Muduli filed a petition on March 18 seeking disqualification of the two members as they voluntarily gave up primary membership of BJD on whose tickets they were elected to the Assembly.
The petitions were referred to both the MLAs for their comments on March 19, 2024, but they did not respond. Thereafter, the MLAs were asked to appear before the Speaker for personal hearing on April 10 before 12 noon. But they did not do so. The Speaker in the orders said taking into account the non-response of the MLAs, she relied on the petitions filed by the government chief whip for their disqualification.
However, Dhali said the disqualification order was one-sided and he was not given opportunity to place his side before the Speaker. Dhali, who has been fielded by BJP from Jayadev (SC) Assembly constituency, said,” I had been to the Assembly for personal appearance but there was some delay due to urgent work in the hospital. The Speaker should give me chance for personal appearance,” he said but added that the disqualification will have no impact on the ensuing election.
Nayak said as he has already resigned from the BJD, disqualification from the Assembly is an ordinary thing. “I am not worried about the decision of the Speaker,” he said.