Himachal High Court issues notice to Assembly Speaker over resignation by 3 Independent MLAs, seeks reply by April 24
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TNR Desk
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday (April 10, 2024) took up the petition of the three Independent MLA demanding the acceptance of their resignation from the Vidhan Sabha. The high court has issued a notice to Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania and sought his reply by the next date on April 24.
Independent MLAs Hoshyar Singh (Dehra seat), KL Thakur (Nalagarh) and Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur) had resigned from the Assembly on March 22, a day before they joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Delhi.
A hearing on the resignation of the three Independent MLAs was held in the court of Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao. The advocate for the petitioners presented his arguments and raised questions over non-acceptance of their resignations by the Speaker. The MLAs argued that they had resigned voluntarily without any pressure and, therefore, their resignations should be accepted.
Notice to MLAs from Speaker
The three Independent MLAs too have to respond by Wednesday to a notice issued by the Assembly Speaker. The three MLAs also met Kuldeep Singh Pathania at 12 noon. All the three MLAs have been asked to appear before the Speaker again at 2.30 pm.
The Speaker has issued the notice to the Independent MLAs on the complaint of Revenue Minister Jagat Singh Negi and Education Minister Rohit Thakur, who raised doubts over why the MLAs resigned in just 15 months when they had been elected for five years. The MLAs have been asked whether they were under any kind of pressure to resign.
All eyes on Speaker’s decision
Now, all eyes are on the Speaker’s decision. If the Speaker accepts their resignation, then byelections will be held in nine Assembly seats instead of six. All the three MLAs even staged a dharna outside the Assembly demanding acceptance of their resignation. It’s for the first time in the state that three Independent MLAs have resigned from their posts. The trio had voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the recent Rajya Sabha election. Before the Rajya Sabha election, all the three Independent MLAs were working as associates with the government. But after the Rajya Sabha elections, they joined BJP.
