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Bihar Assembly dissolution challenged in apex court |
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Last month’s mid-night proclamation of the President dissolving the Bihar Assembly has been challenged in the Supreme Court. A public interest litigation filed by a voter has challenged the Presidential proclamation on the ground that it was based on a “colourable” recommendation by Governor Buta Singh for dissolving the Assembly when its members had not even taken the oath of office after their election. The PIL is likely to come up for hearing before a vacation bench on Monday , June 6. It has also asked for interim stay of the election process in the state till the matter is decided by the court.
Terming the Union Home Ministry’s notification for the dissolution of the Assembly as unconstitutional, the PIL said : “it deserves to be quashed” because it has thwarted any successful culmination of the mandate of the electorate into forming a popular government which was in sight on May 22 when MLAs belonging to the NDA and a group from the LJP had made a serious attempt in this direction.
“The petitioner understands that there was absolutely no reliable information available with the government for making such a recommendation to the Union Home Ministry for the dissolution of the assembly. The only object, in his (Governor’s) mind was that a non-RJD Government is not allowed to be formed at any cost,” the petitioner alleged.
Members of the dissolved Assembly belonging to the NDA, the breakaway Lok Janshakti Party group and Independents have also moved the Supreme Court against the dissolution of the state Assembly. Among the petitioners Rampravesh Rai (JDU), Rameshwar Prasad Chaurasia (BJP), Anil Kumar (splinter LJP group) and Kishore Kumar Munna (Independent).
The group has lined up a battery of top constitutional experts including Soli Sorabjee, Arun Jaitley and Mukul Rohatgi to argue their case.
Terming the dissolution as “unconstitutional”, the petition sought to build a strong case against the move and accused the UPA Government of subverting democratic process at the behest of RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav to prevent JDU leader Nitish Kumar from staking claim to form the next Government. The petitioners claimed that Kumar had mustered the numbers, with 22 of the 29 LJP legislators agreeing to merge with the JDU on their own volition and was all set to stake claim before Governor Buta Singh on May 23, before the Centre moved in to effect a pre-emptive strike.
Political activity picks up
Warming up to the Bihar Assembly elections both the BJP and JDU constituents of the NDA have announced fresh appointments in their state units keeping in mind organizational needs and caste equations. BJP national vice president Sushil Kumar Modi has been shifted out of the Centre to his home state, replacing Gopal Narain Singh as the state party president. Modi’s entry was balanced by appointing C.P. Thakur, a bhumihar, as Chairman of the Bihar election campaign committee.
In response to Thakur’s appointment, JDU made a surprise appointment elevating general secretary K.C. Tyagi to the post of secretary general. Tyagi, relatively low-profile in the party so far, has had a long innings in the “socialist” stream of politics. Considered close to Sharad Yadav, he leads the group that wants to ensure the “secular” credentials of the JDU despite its alliance with the BJP.
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