Rajasthan Crisis: BSP moves HC, challenges merger of party MLAs with Cong

Bahujan Samaj Party has approached Rajasthan High Court against the merger of six of its MLAs in the state with the Congress party amid the on-going political crisis. Advocate Dinesh Garg moved a petition, on behalf of BSP' national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, challenging the merger of MLAs.

Jaipur: The Bahujan Samaj Party on Wednesday filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging the merger of its six party MLAs with the ruling Congress in the state. Advocate Dinesh Garg moved a petition, on behalf of BSP national general secretary Satish Chandra Mishra, challenging the merger of MLAs.

Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha had won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP tickets. They defected to the Congress in September 2019.

BSP state president Bhagwan Singh Baba said, "We have today filed a writ petition in the high court against the merger of BSP MLAs with the Congress." He said that a petition will also be filed in the office of the assembly speaker to challenge the merger.

"Bahujan Samaj Party is a national party and the merger should happen only with parties which have a national presence. If MLAs defect to Congress, strict action should be taken. But here Speaker CP Joshi allowed BSP MLAs to join Congress," the writ petition read.

READ:BSP MLAs' merger with Cong: Rajasthan MLA files fresh plea in HC

It further read, "Speaker's order to allow BSP MLAs to join Congress in 2019 must be cancelled and stern action must be taken six of them who switched parties."

We will also file a petition with the speaker and demand that the merger be cancelled, he said.
BJP MLA Madan Dilawar had on Tuesday filed a writ petition in the high court challenging the order of the assembly speaker on his complaint. The petition will be heard in the court on Wednesday.

Dilawar had filed the complaint before the Speaker in March this year against the merger.The speaker had rejected the complaint on July 24.

READ: Rajasthan: BJP MLA files fresh plea in HC challenging BSP MLAs joining Cong

The MLA alleged that he was not heard by the Speaker while deciding on the complaint and he had challenged the Speaker's order in the high court.

The merger of BSP MLAs with the ruling Congress was a boost to the Ashok Gehlot-led government as the tally of the Congress increased to 107 in the house of 200.

With PTI inputs