Twelve Maharashtra BJP MLAs have approached the Supreme Court against their one-year suspension from the Assembly on July 5 for “abusing and misbehaving” with the presiding officer, Bhaskar Jadhav.
The MLAs contended the action against them was motivated, mala fide and an attempt to stifle voice of the opposition. They said the presiding officer ought to have granted them an opportunity to offer their explanation and the suspension for one year was highly disproportionate.
The suspended MLAs are: Girish Mahajan, Jaykumar Rawal, Ashish Shelar, Atul Bhatkalkar, Yogesh Sagar, Parag Alvani, Ram Satpute, Sanjay Kute, Abhimanyu Pawar, Narayan Kuche, Shirish Pimple and Kirtikumar Bagadia.
Their plea contended that all the 12 legislators were at different places and some of them were not even in the chamber. Some of them were not in the well, but were merely spectators.
They also pointed out that heated exchanges between the ruling party and Opposition formed the very essence of democracy.
The action against the MLAs was taken after the chaos that began when senior NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbul stood up to introduce a resolution in the state legislative Assembly seeking the release of empirical data on the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) by Centre for providing political reservation to the community in the state's local bodies.
At least three former ministers were among the 12 legislators suspended for one year.
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