Two Janata Dal (Secular) legislators, Manappa Vajjal and Shivaraj Patil, who quit their seats to join BJP, will be issued notices, seeking explanation by the Speaker’s office.
Both of them on Thursday submitted their resignations to the Assembly Secretary S. Murthy instead of the Speaker before they joined the BJP.
The notices follow a complaint by the JD(S) to Speaker K.B. Koliwad seeking their disqualification under the Anti-Defection law. Confirming the development, Mr. Koliwad told The Hindu that he had appointed an inquiry officer who would issue them the notices seeking explanation whether their decision to quit the seats was voluntarily or not.
“They have not given their resignations to me personally, which in case could have been accepted immediately. As per law, there is a different procedure when resignations come through post or through someone else. The decision will be taken according to law,” he said. According to Janata Dal (Secular) senior vice president T.A. Sharavana, MLC, the party had submitted complaints to both the Speaker and the Election Commission. Besides him, the complaint had been signed by H.C. Balakrishna, Magadi MLA, and Chowda Reddy, MLC, he added.
“We want them to be disqualified from contesting elections for six years. They won on JD (S) ticket but joined BJP even before handing over their resignation to the Speaker,” he said.
