Rajasthan High Court to hear BSP-Cong merger case again on Thursday

The MLAs submitted an application for a merger with the Congress on September 16 last year, and the Speaker issued an order approving it two days later. In March, BJP MLA Madan Dilawar filed a petition before the Speaker challenging the merger.

The Rajasthan High Court will on Thursday resume hearing the petitions filed by a BJP MLA and the Bahujan Samaj Party challenging the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress last year. The hearing on Tuesday remained inconclusive and the matter was posted for the next hearing on August 13, a counsel for the Speaker said.

BJP MLA Madan Dilawar and the BSP had demanded a stay on the implementation of an order passed by the Speaker, who recognised the merger last year. The counsel for the petitioners argued that the merger was against the provisions of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, the country’s anti-defection law.

The Speaker’s counsel argued that the petitions were premature and not maintainable. Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP tickets and later joined the Congress.

The move came as a boost to the Ashok Gehlot government as the Congress tally in the 200-member assembly rose to 107. The MLAs submitted an application for a merger with the Congress on September 16 last year, and the Speaker issued an order approving it two days later.

In March, BJP MLA Madan Dilawar filed a petition before the Speaker challenging the merger. Speaker C P Joshi rejected his application on July 24, amid the rebellion by Sachin Pilot and 18 other MLAs that threatened the survival of the Gehlot government till recently.

Dilawar then challenged the Speaker’s decision in the high court, demanding a stay on the merger. The BSP later filed a separate petition on the same issue. Justice Mahendra Kumar Goyal on July 30 issued notices to the Speaker, the assembly secretary and the six MLAs but did not stay the merger.

Dilawar then approached a division bench with an appeal. But the bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta referred the case back to the single-judge bench. Meanwhile, the matter also came up in the Supreme Court.