Himachal: 3 Independent MLAs skip hearing before speaker

Amidst the electioneering, the three Independent legislators who had joined the BJP, skipped the hearing before speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Saturday. The speaker has now fixed the case for the final hearing.

Pathania had summoned Hamirpur MLA Ashish Sharma; Nalagarh MLA KL Thakur and Dehra MLA Hoshiyar Singh Thakur. The speaker had summoned them to hear their side on the petition filed by revenue minister Jagat Singh Negi.

Negi had maintained that three had joined the BJP since the speaker had not accepted their resignation and were issued notice to appear before him to ascertain whether they voluntarily resigned or under duress.

The speaker while elaborating on the court’s judgment said, “Both the judges in the high court have made it clear that they have no jurisdiction to accept the resignation.”

“But one of the judges had said that the speaker should decide the matter within a certain time limit,” he said, clarifying that the matter about high court was different from what had been listed today.

The three had submitted their resignation at the Vidhan Sabha secretariat and later handed over copies of their resignation to speaker at his residence on March 22. They met governor Shiv Pratap Shukla to apprise him about the resignation. All three sided with Congress after the formation of government but had voted against its candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, leading to a tie and the eventual victory of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan by a dramatic lottery, plunging the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government into a crisis.

The three independents had approached the court challenging the speaker’s authority in delay in acceptance of their resignation.