Goa Speaker to issue notice to 8 BJP MLAs over disqualification plea

Eight former Congress MLAs, who had crossed over into the ruling BJP in September this year, will be issued notice by the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly Ramesh Tawadkar, in view of two disqualification petitions pending against them, the top official said on Wednesday.

Tawadkar's comments came at a time when former Congress president, one of the petitioners in the disqualification plea Girish Chodankar, has alleged that the Speaker was sitting over his petition and was dithering from taking a call on the same.

"We want to study that matter. We will serve notices to these eight MLAs next week and will hear both, petitioner and respondents," Tawadkar said.

The Congress had 11 MLAs in the 40-member state Assembly following the polls earlier this year, but September's departure of its eight MLAs reduced the party's legislative strength to three.

The split was engineered by former chief minister Digambar Kamat and former minister in the BJP-led Goa government Michael Lobo, were elected on a Congress ticket from the Margao and Calangute Assembly constituencies.

According to the disqualification petition filed by Chodankar last month, the merger of the eight legislators into the BJP was invalid. Chodankar has also said that the legislators should be disqualified as MLAs of the state Assembly under Article 191 (2) of the Constitution of India read with para 2(1)(a) of tenth schedule of the Constitution.

Chodankar had also accused Tawadkar of not acting on his petition, which is one of the two such disqualification pleas pending before Tawadkar. "Now almost 25 days have passed, but still notices are not issued. As per the law, the outer limit to dispose of a disqualification petition is three months," Chodankar had said.