Supreme Court verdict on 15 rebel Karnataka MLAs today

New Delhi/ Bengaluru: All eyes will be on the Supreme Court on Wednesday morning when it announces its verdict on the pleas of 15 rebel Congress and JD(S) MLAs seeking a direction to Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignations from the House and not delay the process.

The verdict will have a bearing on the trust vote which Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy intends to seek in the Assembly on Thursday. A direction to the Speaker to accept the resignations could well seal his fate as the JD(S)-Congress government's numbers would slip from 118 to 101 (including the Speaker) in the Assembly as against the BJP's 107 (which includes two Independents).  

On the other hand, if the court decides that the plea submitted by Congress leaders seeking the disqualification of the dissident MLAs should be taken up first, it could prove to be a severe blow for the rebels  and could serve as a much needed morale booster for the coalition to up the pressure on them to return to the party fold to escape disqualification.

On Tuesday, a SC bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi concluded hearing the arguments presented by the counsels for the rebel MLAs, the Speaker and Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the 15 MLAs,  argued that the Speaker cannot keep the resignations of the MLAs pending and by doing so, he was acting in a partisan manner and attempting to coerce them to vote for the government during the trust vote on Thursday as they would continue to be part of the ruling coalition

Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for the 15 MLAs, argued that the Speaker cannot keep the resignations of the MLAs pending and by doing so, he was acting in a partisan manner and attempting to coerce them to vote for the government during the trust vote on Thursday as they would continue to be part of the ruling coalition.

He told the court that the Speaker has to only see if the resignations were voluntary or not. “It is my fundamental right to do whatever I want to do and I cannot be bound due to non-acceptance of the resignation by the Speaker,” Mr Rohatgi said arguing for the MLAs.

He also wanted to know from the bench if the 15 rebel MLAs could be exempted from appearing in the Assembly with the coalition partners issuing a whip to all MLAs. His contention was that the coalition government has been reduced to a minority.

The counsel for Mr Kumaraswamy, Mr Rajeev Dhavan, told the court that the rebel MLAs were hunting in a pack to destabilise the coalition government and that the court should not have entertained their petitions. “This is not the Speaker versus the court. This is between the chief minister and somebody who wants to become the CM and bring down this government,” he added.

Senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, who appeared for Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, argued that Speakers cannot be asked to decide a matter in a time-bound manner. “Such orders are not passed even to a trial court,” he said.

He also said that a valid resignation should be submitted to the Speaker personally adding that the MLAs appeared before the Speaker only on July 11, five days after they submitted their resignations to his office.

Meanwhile, Ramesh Kumar against whom 15 ruling coalition rebel MLAs have moved the Supreme Court alleging delay in accepting their resignations, on Tuesday said he is working in accordance with the Constitution and was performing his duty.

The apex court will pronounce its order Wednesday morning on the pleas of 15 rebel Congress-JD(S) MLAs seeking direction for Mr Kumar to accept their resignations from the Assembly.

“Ultimately, what the Supreme Court will come out (its verdict), after going through that, I will respond,” Mr Kumar told reporters in Kolar district.

Stating that he was working in accordance with the Constitution, he said “I don’t have freedom to comment on all other matters being the Speaker.”  

“I am not someone who is going to challenge... Iwill only perform my duty..Every one will have to wait till tomorrow,” he added.