NEW DELHI: Hours after the Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the Karnataka assembly, the Congress-JD(S) combine moved the court yet again in the late evening challenging the appointment of BJP MLA K G
Bopaiah as pro tem speaker. A bench of Justices A K Sikri, S A Bobde and Ashok Bhushan will hear the plea at 10.30 am on Saturday.
The Congress-JD(S) combine termed Bopaiah's appointment "ex facie unconstitutional and illegal".
To file the petition settled by senior advocate A M Singhvi, the Congress legal team of lawyers Devadatt Kamat, Javedur Rehman and Gautam Talukdar braved a scuffle with security personnel at the court as they were denied entry despite the registrar's permission. They finally managed to enter with the registrar's help and sought an urgent listing .
The newly-minted allies said Bopaiah had been indicted by the SC for irregularly disqualifying MLAs during B S Yeddyurappa's earlier stint as chief minister.
The challenge stemmed from the alliance's fear that Bopaiah's appointment was a calculated move by BJP to manipulate voting during the floor test at 4 pm on Saturday.
The petition also brought out the alliance's apprehension about the loyalty of their MLAs in the face of alleged allurements held out by BJP. That is the reason the petitioners sought the floor test through division of MLAs into separate and segregated lobbies for transparent voting. They also expressed fear that the pro tem speaker may disqualify some members of the Congress-JD(S) combine and sought a direction from the court that he could not take up any business other than floor test as directed by the SC.
"In a vitiated atmosphere like in the instant case, the cause of justice will be sub-served if the actual conduct of the floor test is directed to be done by a 'division' of persons into separate and segregated lobbies so that the persons in the different lobbies can be counted in a transparent manner," the petitioners - state Congress president G Parameswara and JD(S) chief H D Kumaraswamy - said. But the Supreme Court, in its morning hearing when it had directed floor test, had refused to entertain this plea by Singhvi.
The SC had also rejected Singhvi's plea for video recording of the voting. But the petitioners said, "In the peculiar facts and circumstances, it is submitted that videography of the floor test may be absolutely necessary for a free and fair floor test.
"In the absence of any videography of the proceedings, the petitioners would not be able to demonstrate to the SC if there is any illegality and will be severely handicapped to apprise the court in this regard. The petitioners verily apprehend that the floor test will not be conducted in a free and fair manner and therefore are requesting for videography of the proceeding of the floor test to be conducted on May 19," they said.
