oppn parties Will His Disqualification Order Stand Judicial Scrutiny?

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Will His Disqualification Order Stand Judicial Scrutiny?

By Sunil Garodia

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Speaker of the Karnataka Assembly, KR Ramesh Kumar, has disqualified the remaining 14 MLAs whose resignations were pending before him. He had earlier disqualified three other MLAs who had similarly resigned. Coming just a day before the trust vote in the assembly, the move will bring relief for the BJP as now there is no question of the rebel MLAs changing their mind or the Congress-JD(S) alliance (does it still exist?) prevailing upon them to do so. But the MLAs will not be able to get any immediate rewards as they will now not be able to become ministers in the BJP government till they are reelected. The Speaker has tried to close the route of reelection too by barring them from contesting elections till the end of the term of the present assembly but that is not entirely legal and will be subject to judicial review.

The rebels have decided to go to court as they claim that the Speaker is acting as per a script authored by the Congress-JD(S) alliance. Since there is no clarity in the 10th Schedule of the Constitution on whether the disqualified MLAs can contest the bypolls that will be held on the seats from which they had won and the time limit for which they stand disqualified, it remains to be seen how the courts look at the Speaker's order.  The issue came to light in the recent past when the AIADMK rebels were similarly disqualified. At that time, OP Rawat, the Chief Election Commissioner had said that they can contest the bypolls as they were disqualified from their present membership only. While electoral laws always specify the period for which a person is to be disqualified, the anti-defection law does not. Hence, experts hold different views on the subject and the matter will have to be settled by the courts till the 10th Schedule is amended to bring clarity.

If the purpose of the 10th Schedule was to prevent defections for rewards (which it should have been, otherwise it serves no real purpose), then the disqualification must always be for the remaining term of the assembly. That would mean that the MLAs will not be able to contest the bypolls from their seats or from any other seat till the current assembly serves out its term or is otherwise dissolved and fresh elections are held. But it also seems that the Speaker has not taken the sequence of events into consideration while pronouncing his decision. The MLAs resigned first and only after that did the alliance issued a whip for them to attend the assembly. So if their resignations were in order, they should have been accepted. The Speaker has not denied that all the resignations were not in order, so there is no legal basis for his decision if the timeline of events is followed. The courts will have to interpret the law and settle the matter.

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.