23 June,2010

Another test for the anti-defection law
The Congress is jubilant. Taleigao MLA and Education Minister Atanasio ‘Babush’ Monserrate’s entry into the party raises its strength in the 40-member Legislative Assembly to 19. If the grapevine is to be believed, Valpoi independent MLA Vishwajeet Rane is likely to follow suit, taking the Congress tally to the halfway mark. With two Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs as part of the cabinet and one on the run, the party then has the option of jettisoning the third coalition partner, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP), represented in the cabinet by Transport Minister Ramakrishna ‘Sudin’ Dhavalikar. The resulting vacancy will enable it to re-induct Cumbarjua MLA Pandurang Madkaikar, a representative of Goa’s scheduled tribes. Babush’s entry also effectively wipes out the so-called Group of Seven (G-7) dissident MLAs that has been a major irritant for the government.
So now ‘aaal is well’? Not really.
Is Babush incurring the provisions of the Tenth Schedule to the Indian Constitution, better known as the ‘Anti-Defection Act’? He has chosen not to resign from the Legislative Assembly and seek re-election, as required under the law. In his defence, he says he has not ‘joined’ the Congress, but formally merged his own party, the United Goans Democratic Party (UGDP), with the Congress.
That claim is hotly disputed by UGDP leader Radharao Gracias and the party’s Secretary General Anacleto Viegas. They say the Taleigao MLA is not even a member of the UGDP since his expulsion from the party two years ago.
If he was expelled, it would make Babush an ‘unattached’ MLA. However, in the eyes of the law, he continues to be a member of the old party for the purposes of the Assembly, as ruled by the Supreme Court in ‘G Vishwanathan vs Speaker, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly’. Regardless of expulsion, he would have to resign his assembly seat before he can join another party.
But there’s a complication. The UGDP leaders, it seems, did not send the party resolution expelling Babush to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. As a result, Babush is still listed in the Assembly records as a UGDP MLA.
Assuming he is still in the UGDP, can Babush merge the party with the Congress? He can, if he formally splits the party. But there is nothing on record to show that Babush has declared a split, formed his own faction of the UGDP and duly informed the Election Commission (EC) and the Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly.
Former UGDP MLA Matanhy Saldhana was disqualified in 2005 by then Speaker Francisco Sardinha in a petition filed by then Pernem MLA Jitendra Deshprabhu, on the grounds that he had violated a party whip and voted for Manohar Parrikar on the floor of the House. In this, Sardinha relied on an affidavit given by the UGDP party organisation. Matanhy challenged his disqualification in the High Court, but it is yet to be decided. At the time, Matanhy – like Babush at present – was the UGDP’s sole MLA in the House.
It would seem that legally, Babush does risk disqualification by joining the Congress. But this is far from crystal clear. Moreover, until an MLA files a disqualification petition, Speaker Pratapsingh Rane is not required to take cognisance of the matter. The UGDP has no other MLA, so it cannot move to disqualify Babush. No Congress MLA is likely to stick his or her neck out. Neither is independent MLA Vishwajeet Rane, who reportedly hopes to follow in Babush’s footsteps. That leaves the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), since the NCP and the MGP are members of the coalition. Will the BJP move to disqualify Babush? That remains to be seen. Like so many other things in this state, what happens now will be determined more by the balance of political convenience rather than the letter or the spirit of the law.