Speaker dismisses disqualification petition against Kiran Choudhry
Deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the assembly, Aftab Ahmed and chief whip, BB Batra had filed a petition seeking her disqualification in terms of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.
Haryana assembly speaker Gian Chand Gupta has dismissed a petition seeking disqualification of Tosham MLA Kiran Choudhry from being a member of the House as per the anti-defection law. Choudhry who was elected on a Congress party symbol in 2019 had last month switched sides to join the BJP.
Deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party in the assembly, Aftab Ahmed and chief whip, BB Batra had filed a petition seeking her disqualification in terms of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. The Congress petition said that as per section 2 (1) (a) of the Tenth Schedule pertaining to disqualification on ground of defection, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he or she has voluntarily given up his or her membership of such political party.
The speaker, however, on Monday announced in a statement that the disqualification petition has been dismissed on technical grounds. “The petition did not comply with the stipulations mentioned in the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Disqualification of members on grounds of defection) Rules framed in accordance with the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. Section 6 (7) of the Rules stipulated that every annexure to the petition shall also be signed by the petitioner and verified in the same manner as the petition. The petition filed by the Congress party does not comply with the stipulations,” said the statement issued by the speaker’s office.
