Skip to main content

'Poaching' of Congress MLAs: Academics, lawyers want Gujarat High Court probe

Congress Rajya Sabha aspirants: Shaktisinh Gohil, Bharatsinh Solanki
By Our Representative 
Several concerned citizens, including senior academics, lawyers and activists, have asked the speaker of the Gujarat state assembly not to accept any resignation of MLAs after the election for Rajya-Sabha is notified, even as wanting the Gujarat High Court to conduct a “detailed investigation” in the manner in which recently the Congress MLAs resigned ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls and "punish the culprits."
The statement follows a week after a major jolt to the grand old party in Gujarat, with three of its MLAs – Brijesh Merja, Akshay Patel and Jitu Chaudhary – handing over their resignation letters to state assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi. The Congress has levelled charges of horse trading against BJP, with party spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi saying Union Home Minister Amit Shah and “was absent during the virus outbreak, however got active as soon as the Rajya Sabha polls were announced.”
Signed, among others, by senior academics Prof Indira Hirway, Prof Dinesh Awathi, Prof Sebastian Morris, Prof Ghanshyam Shah and Prof Navdeep Mathur, advocate Bhushan Oza, and activists Gagan Sethi and Sejal Dand, the statement says that they are “pained to see the political games played out by our political leaders and members of Legislative Assembly in every Rajya-Sabha election.
“This has happened many times in the past, but we want to request the concerned authorities to stop it immediately now”, they said, adding, “This year this game is particularly unbearable. Instead of paying full attention to controlling the outbreak of Covid-19 in the state, the dominant party is busy poaching MLAs from the opposition parties to win maximum seats in the Rajya-Sabha election.”
The statement says, “Though this buying of MLAs is shown on paper as sudden resignations by the MLAs, citizens of Gujarat know very well that MLAs from opposition parties are bought by the dominant political party. We do not know but we gather from local newspapers that the price of an MLA this year is between Rs 20-50 crore or more.”
The statement regrets, “This is fundamentally against the spirit of democracy, as the MLAs resigning for money are betraying their respective constituencies. Also, wrong people get into Rajya Sabha from Gujarat when fair election procedures are not followed.”
The statement has demanded that not only should the speaker not accept the resignation of any MLA after the Rajya Sabha elections were notified, he should, in fact, nullify the results of the Rajya-Sabha election if a single MLA resigns from MLA’s post during this period.


Instead of paying full attention to controlling the outbreak of Covid-19 in the state, the dominant party is busy poaching
The statement also demands that the state government should issue an ordinance that the MLAs after the notification of the election of Rajya-Sabha are disqualified for any public office or any office of power or profit for life, and people should be empowered “with the Right to Recall MLAs and MPs if they betray the people of their respective constituencies.”
So far eight Congress legislators have resigned from the Congress since March, when elections for four Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat were announced. The depleted strength of Congress in the assembly is likely to further dampen its prospects in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in the state on June 19. The BJP had secured a narrow majority in the 2017 assembly elections with 99 seats. The Congress had finished with 81.
However, over the last two-and-a-half years, a number of Congress MLAs have either switched sides or resigned. By March 2020, the Congress tally had already reduced to 73. After eight resignations over the last three months, its strength has further gone down. The development is a severe setback to the party which had hoped to win two of the four seats in the Rajya Sabha poll, which is expected on June 19.
The party has nominated senior leaders Shaktisinh Gohil and Bharatsinh Solanki. Left with 73 MLAs, the party in March had hoped that it would be able to secure both the seats. With independent MLA Jignesh Mevani likely to support the Congress candidates, the party will still be four short of 70 votes, required to win two seats in the current assembly strength. In this scenario, it is likely to win just a single seat, while the BJP with 103 legislators appears set to take three.

Comments

TRENDING

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas*  In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates. 

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Religious divide 'kept alive' with low intensity communalism in Gujarat's cultural capital

By Rajiv Shah  A fact-finding report, prepared by the Mumbai-based non-profit, Centre for Study of Society and Secularism (CSSS), has cited the Vadodara Ram Navami violence of March 30 as yet another example of how, after the BJP consolidating its hold on political power in Gujarat post-2002 riots and at the Centre in 2014, the nature of communal riots has changed, underlining, as opposed to high-intensity violence earlier, now riots have become “more sub-radar and at a smaller scale, more localized”.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Caste, impact on Ayodhya area 'halting' BJP rulers to act against Brij Bhushan Singh

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  Finally, the #WrestlersProtest has got international attention. The United World Wrestling (UWW),  condemning the treatment and detention of wrestlers and expressing its disappointment over the lack of results of the investigations against Brij Bhushan Singh, accused of sexually harassing women wrestlers, has urged the "relevant authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation."

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

76% Odisha govt school infrastructure in dilapidated state, 'undermine' RTE norms

By Our Representative  As many as 75.86% (5,421) elementary schools in Odisha do not possess a playground, depriving students of physical activity opportunities. Also, 75.68% (5,408) of schools require minor or major repairing, undermining the norms and standards stipulated in the Right to Education (RTE) Act.

Can India's water management infrastructure address gender vulnerability issues?

By Monami Bhattacharya, Megha Gupta, Mansee Bal Bhargava*  The climatic pattern of the earth is evolving and changing for a very long time, but in the recent times spanning this century, the change has been drastic which has raised serious concerns to all. Climate criss is also clearly manifested as gender crisis where women are more vulnerable besides being more voiceless to raise the issue. India is marked as a highly climate-vulnerable nation. In addition, the gender disparity in the patriarchal society seems deeply and naturally ingrained among all.