SC upholds nomination of three Puducherry MLAs by Kiran Bedi

New Delhi, Dec 6: Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the decision of Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi to nominate three MLAs to the Assembly.

The apex court said, "LG has the power to nominate". Congress had challenged the decision of LG to nominate MLAs saying LG should have consulted the ruling party before the nomination of MLAs.

In March, the Madras High Court had upheld their nominations. More than eight months after Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi sparked off a crisis in the Union territory by nominating three MLAs without the recommendation of the chief minister. The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had delivered two separate, but concurring, judgments upholding the nomination made by the lieutenant governor.

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The three MLAs - V Swaminathan, KG Shankar and V Selva Ganapathy - all belonging to the BJP, could not enter the assembly all these days as the speaker had refused to swear them in and administer oath of office to them. The MLAs were nominated by Bedi in 2017 but Speaker Vaithilingam had cancelled their nominations on November 12, 2017.