Uttarakhand crisis: Speaker acted in a wrong way, says BJP

Dehradun: After the Nainital bench of the Uttarakhand High Court said that the nine dissident Congress MLAs, disqualified by the assembly speaker under the anti-defection law, will have the right to vote, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said that it clearly pointed out that the speaker had acted in a wrong way.

The Uttarakhand High Court had yesterday ruled that fresh voting must take place on March 31 when "the vote of confidence will be put to the floor test."

"The court in its order has noted that speaker's move to disqualify nine rebel Congress members was not the correct one and that their voting rights can't be ignored and as a result there votings would also be counted. It has clearly pointed out that the speaker is acting in a wrong way," BJP leader Shyam Jaju said.

"The BJP had demanded voting division on March 18, which the speaker refused and yesterday's court verdict has said that even if one member demands voting division then it should be done," he added.

Jaju further said that the speaker should have gone ahead with the voting division and said that the court now wants the voting division to be done in front of it. "We are totally confident of our MLA, the rebel MLAs of Congress have made it clear that they are not with the Congress Party," he added.

The Uttarakhand High Court on Tuesday asked the deposed Harish Rawat government to seek a trust vote on March 31, in an unusual order that added to the political flux in the state. While the rebellion-hit Congress welcomed the verdict and its ousted chief minister, Rawat, expressed confidence that he has the numbers to prove majority, the BJP termed the decision 'unprecedented'.

President's Rule was imposed in the hill state on Sunday following days of political upheaval after nine dissident Congress lawmakers threatened to take power by joining hands with the BJP.