Speaker rues ‘ambiguity’ of anti-defection law

Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar has reserved his ruling on a petition moved by the Congress seeking disqualification of ‘rebel’ legislator Umesh Jadhav under the anti-defection law.

Kumar held a hearing on the petition at Vidhana Soudha on Monday, during which he rued that the anti-defection law as per the 10th Schedule of the Constitution needed strengthening.

At the hearing, Jadhav was present along with his lawyer and representatives from the Chincholi constituency were also allowed to put forth their views. They pleaded that Jadhav’s resignation should not be accepted as they had elected him with a sense of faith.

Jadhav resigned earlier this month and was later inducted into the BJP, which has given him the ticket to contest the Lok Sabha election from the Gulbarga seat.

"Even if he is disqualified under the anti-defection law, he can contest from the same constituency," Kumar noted. "I have before me a resignation and a disqualification petition. When it comes to disqualification, the Schedule 10 is not comprehensive,” he said.

The hearing, Kumar said, was his effort to make the lawmakers realise "ambiguity, imperfectness and infirmities in the Schedule 10 and the absolute need to reframe it.” The Speaker said he would take a decision after consulting legal experts.

Jadhav’s constituents strongly argued that his resignation should not be cleared as they were not consulted before he made his decision and that he was elected based on his good work of the past and the hope that he would continue the same.

"I will not comment on what the people of the constituency have said. I will comment later,” Jadhav said.