Sachin Pilot camp moves HC, plea to be heard today

Former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot and his team of 18 lawmakers on Thursday approached the Rajasthan high court’s Jaipur bench to seek cancellation of the disqualification notice served on them by assembly speaker CP Joshi, insisting that the anti-defection law could not be invoked against them for disagreeing outside the House with some government decisions and policies.

The petition will be heard on Friday by a two-member division bench of the high court at 1pm.

Pilot’s decision to move the Rajasthan high court is seen by Congress leaders as a signal that he intends to pursue his battle with chief minister Ashok Gehlot, and underlines his growing distance with the party that removed him on Tuesday as the head of its state unit and as deputy CM of Rajasthan after differences came to a head last weekend.

The hearing was deferred after Pilot’s camp – represented by senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi -- filed an amended petition in the evening, incorporating additional grounds of challenge to its earlier plea filed before a single-judge bench.

Also read: The tale of Rajesh and Sachin Pilot, writes Rajdeep Sardesai

If the Pilot camp is disqualified, it would reduce the strength of the assembly and place Gehlot on a stronger footing in a House with reduced strength until elections are held to fill their seats. The battle in the court is important from the point of view of the numerical strength in the assembly, which will matter in the event of a no-confidence motion against the government.

The joint petition was taken up by the high court’s justice Satish Sharma on Thursday afternoon, when Salve sought time to amend the petition to broaden its scope.

Justice Sharma resumed the hearing a few hours later at 5pm. The amended plea challenged the Constitutional validity of a key provision in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution: Clause 2(1)(a). This states that a lawmaker will be liable for disqualification on the ground of defection if he voluntarily gives up membership of the political party on whose ticket he was elected.

Also read| Sachin Pilot, disqualification and the Tenth Schedule: An explainer

The petition said that clause 2(1)(a) is very wide, since previous judgments have even construed the expression of opinion or views by lawmakers against party leadership as conduct falling within its contours. Therefore, the petition argued, that the clause violates freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.

The Congress maintained that the action of the speaker was justified and within the ambit of the provisions. “Everyone needs to follow the party’s whip. The speaker has full rights to send notices to MLAs,” state transport minister Pratap Singh Khachariyawas said.

Differences between the CM and his former deputy were seen to be simmering for months, and the acrimony became public in the last two days after Pilot was sacked from his party positions. On Wednesday, Gehlot said Pilot was part of a conspiracy to topple the government and that “traits such as looking good and speaking fluent English” did not matter in public life. Pilot, earlier in the day, said Gehlot had humiliated him and kept him out of key decisions.

As things stand, the numbers still remain slightly tenuous for Gehlot. He appears to have the support of 101 members — same as the majority mark in the 200-member state assembly (though this does not include speaker CP Joshi). Pilot has 18 other Congress MLAs and three independents in his camp. The BJP and its ally Rashtriya Loktrantrik Party have 75 seats. One Congress MLA, Bhanwarlal Meghwal, is indisposed, though he is said to be close to Pilot.

Pilot’s primary argument was that his missing two meetings of the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) did not amount to defection. According to the Constitution’s 10th Schedule, the anti-defection provisions kick in if a member voluntarily gives up membership of the political party or votes contrary to the party’s direction in the assembly.

Pilot also said speaker Joshi may act under the influence of chief minister Gehlot.

It is evident that the 10th Schedule of Constitution is sought to be used as a guise to impose the majoritarian view on the members and to stifle their freedom of speech and fair play in democratic setup, the petition stated.

Elected representatives who disagree with certain policies or decisions of some members of the party cannot be counted as acting against the interests of the party; a healthy discourse on the pros and cons of policies of a political party cannot be inferred to imply voluntarily giving up membership under the anti-defection law, the petition said. It added that they had never spoken about quitting the Congress or trying to pull down the Gehlot government.

The complaint against them was therefore “based on assumptions and surmises” and were without a factual basis to support such concerns, the petitioners argued.

It contrasted the speaker’s inaction on a disqualification complaint against Bahujan Samaj Party legislators who crossed over to the Congress with Joshi’s July 14 notice that was issued within hours of a complaint by the Congress chief whip.

The petition by 19 lawmakers also said that there would be “dangerous consequences” if an elected member is deprived of membership “merely on the whims and fancies” of party leaders.