PUDUCHERRY: Puducherry Lt Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan's reference to the three nominated MLAs as BJP members has sparked a controversy with Congress and DMK members objecting to it.
Government Whip R K R Anantharaman said the Lt Governor in her letter to the Chief Minister V Narayanasamy asking him to prove his majority had termed the three nominated members as 'BJP', which is 'wrong'. To substantiate his claim, he said that as per the provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, when a member of a political party contests an election, the respective party high command will give form A and B authorising that the person is a representative of the party and also give the symbol.
Accordingly after the election, the Congress, DMK, N R Congress and AIADMK members belong to the respective political parties whereas it is not the case with the three nominated members.
They may belong to the BJP, but in the House they are not members of any political party. If they claim to be BJP members, they could get disqualified under the anti-defection law, he said. Hence the Lt Governor should reconsider her statement addressing them as BJP MLAs.
Similarly, DMK South Convenor and Leader of DMK Legislature party R Siva said the order of the Supreme Court in the K Lakshminarayanan versus Union of India case on December 6, 2018 had stated that the central government could nominate three members to the territorial assembly but had not mentioned BJP members. As such, the Lt. Governor’s statement is wrong and she should recall it, he said. There is apprehension now that the present Lt. Governor will also function as a BJP representative like the previous Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi, Siva said.