Rajasthan HC dismisses BJP MLA’s petition against merger of BSP lawmakers with Congress

In a major relief to the congress the Rajasthan High Court, on Monday, dismissed the plea filed by BJP opposing the merger of 6 Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs into Congress in the state. This move occurs after the BSP had issued a whip to its 6 MLAs instructing them to vote against the Congress in the event of a 'No Confidence Motion' or any other proceedings in the Rajasthan Assembly session, failing which they would be disqualified.   All six BSP MLAs had merged with Congress in September 2019 - which has been challenged by the BJP and BSP. In a statement on Sunday, the BJP lawmaker said no action was taken on his petition to the Speaker on March 16 for disqualification of the BSP MLAs. He said he had reminded the Speaker for a quick decision on July 17.

Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha who won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP tickets applied for merger as a group with the Congress on September 16 last year. Two days later, the Speaker passed an order declaring that the six MLAs will be treated as part of the Congress. Dilawar had filed a petition in the high court earlier this month for quashing the merger of six BSP MLAs with the Congress and challenging the “inaction” of the Assembly Speaker in not deciding on his plea seeking disqualification of the BSP legislators for their merger with the Congress.