The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the rebel MLAs of the Congress and the JD(S) in Karnataka could not be forced to attend the proceedings of the state assembly, leaving the fate of the coalition government hanging by a thread.
The top court order comes a day before the H.D. Kumaraswamy government, which is in serious danger of losing power after multiple resignations of legislators, is due to face a trust vote in the assembly.
“Until further notice, the 15 members of the assembly out not to be compelled to participate in the proceedings of the ongoing session of the house and an option should be given to them that they can take part in the said proceedings or to opt to remain out of the same,” a bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Deepak Gupta and Anirudha Bose said in its verdict. It further said Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar was free to decide on the resignations of the rebel legislators within such time-frame as deemed appropriate by him.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was quick to welcome the verdict and said a government led by the saffron party could be expected in the state by next week.
Meanwhile, the Congress warned the rebel MLAs of disqualification proceedings against them under anti-defection law if they did not obey the whip and participate in the assembly proceedings during the trust vote.
“Some BJP friends are trying to misguide that whip is not valid. But the party can issue a whip and take the necessary action under anti-defection law,” said D.K. Shivkumar, Congress’ chief troubleshooter.
As many as 16 MLAs—13 from the Congress and three from JD(S)—have resigned from the state assembly, while independent MLAs S. Shankar and H. Nagesh have withdrawn their support to the coalition government, keeping it on the edge.
The ruling coalition’s strength in the House is 117—Congress 78, JD(S) 37, BSP 1, and nominated 1, besides the speaker.
With the support of the two independents, the opposition BJP has 107 MLAs in the 225-member House, including the nominated MLA and Speaker.
If the resignations of the 16 MLAs are accepted, the ruling coalition’s tally will be plummet to 101, reducing the 13 month-old Kumaraswamy government to a minority.
According to official sources, nominated member, too, has a right to vote.
