RAJ KUMAR
Ranchi, May 6: BJP legislature party chief Babulal Marandi demanded dismissal of a petition filed under the anti-defection law against him before the tribunal of Jharkhand assembly speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto.
Raj Kumar Yadav and Bhusan Bada had filed the petition on December 10, 2020 and December 16, 2020 respectively saying the legislator status of Marandi be cancelled as the latter has joined the BJP after winning the election as a JVM candidate. They had submitted that Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey, who were also declared elected as JVM candidates, are not with Marandi and thus Marandi’s defection is not valid.
Marandi’s advocate R.N.Sahay, however, submitted before the speaker’s tribunal that the petition ought to be dismissed as it was filed almost 10 months after the JVM got merged with the BJP and almost nine months after the Election Commission of India declared the merger legal and proper. He said Yadav and Tirkey were expelled from the party before the merger and he is not supposed to say anything in the matter.
“On February 6, Tirkey and Yadav were expelled from the party. On February 11, 2020, the JVM merged with the BJP. On 6 March, the Election Commission upheld the merger after a proper inquiry with its counterpart in Jharkhand. After 10 months of the development, a petition was filed under the anti-defection law. This should be outrightly rejected,” Sahay submitted
Sahay said rules of Jharkhand assembly regarding the hearing on matters of defection are concerned, providing that if anyone has any problem with defection he or she can apply immediately but the petitioner kept on waiting for 10 months suggesting that he was not inclined to file a petition. He said the rule also provided that in case there is a delay in filing a petition in the matter of defection it should be rejected under communication to the petitioner.
Sahay contended how come a petition under anti-defection law be allowed after 10 months in an assembly whose tenure is 60 months.
During the hearing, MLA Rajkumar Yadav presented his side while advocate Shrey Mishra represented Bhushan Bada. Mishra said that a petition has been filed in the High Court regarding this matter on which Sahay said that let the decision in the matter come from there.
On May 9, the petition of Deepika Pandey Singh, Pradeep Yadav and Bandhu Tirkey against Babulal Marandi will be heard. The nature of the petition is the same.
