Bhubaneswar, 11 September (H.S.) : The opposition Biju Janata Dal (BJD) has moved the Orissa High Court challenging Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy’s decision to reject its petition seeking the disqualification of eight party MLAs accused of violating the party’s directives during the March Rajya Sabha elections.

BJD chief whip and senior MLA Pramila Mallik said she filed a writ petition before the High Court on Thursday, alleging that the Speaker rejected the petition without providing the party an opportunity to present its case.

“We had sought the disqualification of eight MLAs for their anti-party activities and for defying the collective decision of the party. The Speaker dismissed our petition without giving us a hearing,” Mallik told reporters on Friday.

BJD MLA and former minister Arun Kumar Sahoo said the party was aware that there was no provision for issuing a whip during Rajya Sabha elections and that MLAs were free to vote according to their conscience. However, he said the party had accused the eight legislators of violating its directives and failing to attend urgent meetings convened before the elections.

The Speaker had in June rejected separate disqualification petitions filed by the BJD and Congress against 11 MLAs—eight from the BJD and three from the Congress—over allegations of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections.

The BJD had alleged that its MLAs, including Chakramani Kanhar, Devi Ranjan Tripathy, Arvind Mohapatra, Sanatan Mahakud, Subasini Jena, Naba Kishore Mallick and Souvic Biswal, among others, had violated the anti-defection provisions under the Tenth Schedule by acting contrary to the party’s official position.

In a June 19 notification, the Assembly Secretariat described the BJD petitions as “cryptic, vague, unsubstantiated” and said they did not fulfil the statutory requirements. It further stated that the petitions failed to comply with mandatory provisions of the Members of Odisha Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1987, including the prescribed verification requirements.

The Congress had separately sought the disqualification of Sofia Firdous, Ramesh Jena and Dasarath Gamang.

The 11 legislators were accused of cross-voting during the March 16 election to four Rajya Sabha seats from Odisha. The BJD, in an understanding with the Congress and CPI(M), had fielded urologist Dr Datteswar Hota as the joint Opposition candidate.

Hota, however, lost the election to BJP-backed Independent candidate and former Union minister Dilip Ray. The Opposition had alleged that cross-voting by some of its MLAs contributed to the outcome.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Monalisa Panda