All the disqualified 14 Indian National Congress(INC) and three Janata Dal-Secular(JD-S) Members of Karnataka Assembly today heaved a sigh of relief following the apex court's orders of permitting them to contest the 05 December bye-elections.
The Supreme Court's verdict upholding the former state Assembly Speaker's ruling of disqualifying them from the membership of the state Assembly has come as a blessing in disguise to all the 17 legislators.
Although the highest court of the country has minced no words in ratifying the decision of Speaker KR Rameshkumar, at the same time it has been gracious enough in allowing the disqualified legislators to recontest the bye-elections.By nullifying the ruling of the Speaker barring these 17 legislators to contest elections till the end of the tenure of the present Assembly, the apex court has given a rebirth to the political innings of these former MLAs'.
Now that the desks have been cleared for their contest it's only a matter of time that 15 of them will be parted with the BJP tickets once the formalities of joining the party will get over in a day or two since 18 November is the last day to file the nominations.Interestingly in spite of being permitted to contest the ensuing bye-elections two disqualified MLAs', Munirathna(Rajarajeshwarinagar constituency in the city) and Pratapgouda Patil(Maski in Raichuru district) aren't all that lucky to contest!
The Election Commission of India has dropped these two constituencies for the 05 December bye-elections as the rival defeated candidates have contested the victory of the winning candidates and the cases are pending before the state high court.All the parties including the aggrieved ones are more than happy with the outcome of the long-awaited judgement. KR Rameshkumar, Speaker is happy for his ruling of disqualifying the 17 MLAs' has been vindicated.Both Congress and JD-S leaders are happy that their former legislators have been taught a lesson with the measure of disqualification. At the same time, the disqualified MLAs' are jubilant for having got an opportunity to contest once again!
Vijayabhaskar Reddy, a senior advocate of the state high court opined: The Supreme Court's verdict is welcome in several ways. It has rightly pointed out that all the disqualified legislators are entitled to contest the bye-elections, which was banned according to the former Speaker's ruling.
The MLAs' had quit their positions but had not joined any party nor have they committed any crimes under the provisions of the Indian Penal Code to attract such a harsh measure, felt Vijayabhaskar Reddy.
At last the long-drawn political battle of wits between the hitherto JDS-Congress alliance partners and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) is over for the time being. But what is in store for the present ruling party once the results of the 05 December bye-polls are over needs to be watched.
-Manohar Yadavatti
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