Team Herald
PANJIM: Speaker Rajesh Patnekar has observed that the petitioner – Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislator Ramkrishna (Sudin) Dhavalikar does not dispute the position that 2/3 of the MLAs of MGP decided to merge with the Bharatriya Janata Party (BJP) while, the X Schedule of the Constitution of India also provides that even after 2/3 members merge the legislature party, balance 1/3 members of the legislature party can continue to exist as an independent group.
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The Speaker on Thursday gave Dhavalikar certified copies of the judgement on the disqualification petition pronounced by him on Tuesday.
Dhavalikar had prayed for disqualification of the party’s two former MLAs – Manohar (Babu) Ajgaonkar and Deepak Pauskar – for engineering defections in terms of Article 191(2) read with Para 2 of the X Schedule.
Dhavalikar called the claim made by the two former MLAs merging MGP into BJP as “bedroom merger”, illegal and unconstitutional.
Relying upon the X Schedule, Dhavalikar argued that the merger of the original party always necessitates a resolution of the original political party by issuing notices and a general body meeting coupled with consent of 2/3 members of the Legislature Party. He said MGP is the original political party registered with the Election Commission of India and the respondents are/were bound by it.
He stated that there was no resolution of the MGP to merge with the BJP and also no meeting was conducted to merge with the BJP and submitted that both the respondents had voluntarily given up their membership and had thus attracted disqualification.
Ajgaonkar and Pauskar stated there is a merger as under the X Schedule and that there is no requirement of showing merger of the political party. They stated that the deeming fiction created under Para 4(2) of the X Schedule pertains to the Anti-Defection Law and once the deeming fiction is created it has to be given a complete effect and there cannot be any condition or pre-requisite for giving effect to such deeming fiction.
They stated that the group which refuses to merge is entitled to continue independently under the X Schedule and denied that there is any disqualification under the X Schedule. They prayed that the petition be dismissed.
Denying that they have voluntarily given up the membership of the MGP, Ajagaonkar and Pauskar claimed that 2/3 of the members of the MGP Legislature Party have merged with the BJP. Under the X Schedule of the Constitution, once 2/3rd of the MLAs decide to merge, there is no disqualification attracted, they said. They also denied that the merger has to be approved by the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Both the respondents claimed the merger of even the original political party and denied that they are liable to be disqualified. They also relied upon the judgments of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Guwahati High Court to say that the deeming fiction has to be given a complete effect.
The order states that the petitioner has not given any judgment of the Bombay High Court on the deeming fiction under the X Schedule.
Following the judgments cited by the respondents, the Speaker said that it is clear that the deeming fiction of a merger under paragraph 4(2) of the X Schedule has to be given a complete effect and it should be deemed that there is a merger as per the X Schedule if 2/3 of the members of the legislature party decide to merge in another political party.
This fiction has to be given complete effect and as stated in Baljit Singh Bhullar’s case. The X Schedule of the Constitution of India also provides that the balance 1/3 members of the legislature party can continue to exist as an independent group. This also suggests that despite the merger under the X Schedule, the original political party can still continue along with the other members of the legislative party, the Speaker said.
