New Delhi: The Supreme Court will pronounce an interim order at 4 PM on the petition of the 9 rebel Uttarakhand Congress MLAs who approached the apex court challenging Nainital High Court’s order upholding Speaker’s decision to disqualify them.
The top court also made it clear that the voting in floor test will take place tomorrow as directed earlier as it rejected Congress stand that Principal Secretary (Legislative and Par Affairs) is an outsider in the House and Secy (Legislative Assembly) should be made the observer.
Earlier in the day, the Uttarakhand High Court dismissed the petition of 9 rebel Congress MLAs challenging their disqualification by the Speaker, a decision the rebels challenged in the Supreme Court immediately.
Dismissing their petition, the single judge bench of Justice UC Dhyani said the petition stands dismissed and asked the MLAs to go back to Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal seeking a review of his action if they so wished.
The judgement may give Harish Rawat an advantage in the floor test which will now be held in the Assembly tomorrow with an effective strength of 62 in which the winning side will need 31 MLAs for a majority. The BJP has 28 MLAs.
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All the 9 MLAs were disqualified from the assembly under the anti-defection law but eight of them have challenged the Speaker’s decision in the court.
Moments after the High Court pronounced its order, the MLAs moved the Supreme Court. Counsel for the MLAs CA Sundaram mentioned the matter before Chief Justice of India TS Thakur about the High Court verdict that had come earlier in the day. The CJI asked the counsel to approach the bench which had on Friday ordered the floor test.
Today's order of the High Court ensures that the disqualification of the MLAs stays and would keep the rebel MLAs out of the proceedings during the confidence vote for Rawat in the Assembly tomorrow unless overturned by the apex court.
Ordering a floor test on May 10 in the Assembly, the Supreme Court had said "if they (disqualified MLAs) have the same status" at the time of vote of confidence, they cannot participate in the House.
A specially convened two-hour-long session during which the President's Rule will be kept in abeyance will be held between 11 AM and 1 PM for a "single agenda" of floor test, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh had said.
Uttrakhand had political crisis when 9 Congress legislators including former chief minister Vijay Bahuguna revolted against their own government during a debate on a finance bill on March 18.
