JJP writes the Speaker to request that two MLAs be disqualified
The state speaker was contacted by the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) today to request that two party MLAs be disqualified for their participation in “anti-party” actions in accordance with the anti-defection statute (10th Schedule of the Constitution).
Jogi Ram Sihag (Barwala) and Ram Niwas Surjakheda (Narwana) have been asked to have their memberships in the Speaker’s office revoked for their support of BJP candidates during the parliamentary election campaign. According to JJP office secretary Randhir Singh, “the MLAs had been campaigning for the BJP candidates instead of the official JJP candidates during the poll campaigns.”
According to him, the Office of the Speaker was relocated after the proper legal procedures, serving as a tribunal for MPs’ disqualification under the anti-defection statute. Singh said, “The MLAs were served legal notices for their anti-party activities multiple times, but they never replied to them.”
He stated that the Speaker has received proof in the form of photos of MLAs participating in the BJP’s election campaign, transcripts of their conversations with print and broadcast media, and postings on social media showing support for the saffron party.
Speaker Gupta confirmed that his office had received a letter from the JJP and that he will review it before determining what to do. The two lawmakers belong to a group of five “rebel” MLAs who are purportedly cozying up to the BJP after the separation of the BJP and JJP in March of this year.
Even while the JJP may have thwarted any attempt by the MLAs to divide the party, if the two lawmakers are dismissed, the BJP would have the upper hand in any floor test of the “minority” Nayab Singh Saini administration.
43 MLAs in the House of 88, including two Independents and one from the Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP), support the BJP. If CM Saini wins the Karnal bypoll, the BJP’s total membership of 86 will equal 44, making her the party’s effective leader. Three Independent MLAs have stopped supporting the BJP.
