PANJIM: Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) President Amit Patkar on Monday urged State Legislative Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar to decide on the pending disqualification petitions against eight MLAs who defected from Congress to BJP in September 2022.
In a letter written to the Speaker, Patkar has said, “I draw your attention to the pending disqualification petition dated December 6 , 2022, filed against the eight MLAs who defected from Congress to BJP on September 14, 2022 and request you to decide on the same in a time-bound manner.”
Patkar urged the Speaker to disqualify Michael Lobo, Digambar Kamat, Aleixo Sequeira, Sankalp Amonkar, Rodolfo Fernandes, Delilah Lobo, Rajesh Faldessai and Kedar Naik for violating the Tenth Schedule of Constitution of India.
The Goa Congress President said that he will explore all legal remedies if the Speaker continues to delay on deciding on the petition pending before him.
It may be recalled that the eight MLAs were elected on Congress Party symbol but later defected and joined BJP in September 2022.
Last week, Goa Assembly Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar dismissed the disqualification petition filed against erstwhile Congress MLAs Michael Lobo and Digambar Kamat by Patkar. This was the first of the four disqualification petitions disposed of by the Speaker after 22 months.
