The Congress had moved a disqualification notice against the MLAs, after they crossed over to help BJP, which won only 13 seats but was invited by the governor to form the government. The Speaker rejected the Congress petition saying, ‘defections were part of a deemed merger’ and did not attract the anti-defection law. The anti-defection law stipulates that two-thirds of legislators of a party need to split to avoid disqualification. The Congress petition, incidentally, comes when Goa is predicted to see another hung House, according to exit polls.
The Bombay high court upheld the Speaker’s order, and the Congress has appealed against the verdict in the SC. The appeal, filed by Lawmen & White, through partner Ujjawal Anand Sharma, Prashant Sivarajan and D Kumanan, said the HC decision was in the ‘teeth of settled principles of merger’ of a political party under the Tenth Schedule. The Speaker was wrong in granting protection to the defectors. Such a protection could be guaranteed only when the original political party in the House merged with another party, the Congress contended. The Speaker had ruled that there was a ‘deemed merger of the INC and the BJP’.
