Congress MLA Bhaga Barad, who was convicted in a case of illegal mining and awarded a jail sentence last week, was on Tuesday disqualified from the assembly by speaker Rajendra Trivedi.
A court in Gir Somnath had awarded jail term of two years and nine months to the MLA from Talala constituency on March 1 in the 24-year-old case.
"Bhaga Barad has been disqualified as a member of legislative assembly. The decision has been taken as per notifications of Election Commission and Supreme Court order related to the conviction of lawmakers," Trivedi told reporters in Gandhinagar.
As a result of this, Barad will be barred from contesting elections for six years after the jail term ends.
In a notification, the Gujarat Legislature Secretariat said the Congress MLA stood disqualified from being a member of the assembly from the date of the judgement, i.e. March 1.
"His seat in Gujarat Legislative Assembly thereupon becomes vacant from March 1, 2019," it said.
The development sparked a political war of words with Congress accusing BJP of misusing powers, and BJP demanding the convicted MLA's suspension.
"The decision to disqualify Bhaga Barad is politically motivated. The court had granted him 30 days to appeal against the conviction. We will challenge the Speaker's decision in a higher court," leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani said.
BJP, on the other hand, defended Trivedi's decision.
"The court has awarded jail term to Bhaga Barad. The Speaker has acted as per Supreme Court's order," state BJP president Jitu Vaghani said, asking the opposition to suspend the tainted leader.
The FIR against Barad for illegal mining on a gauchar land in Sutrapada taluka of Gir Somnath district was filed in 1995. He and his aides were accused of extracting 2.83 lakh tonne limestone valued at Rs2.83 crore.
The Congress announced that it would hold protests across the state against Barad's disqualification.
"The Speaker has acted in an unconstitutional manner at the behest of a political party. BJP follows a different set of rules for its leaders like Babu Bokhiria and Parsottam Solanki, and for the opposition. We will stage protests tomorrow, and hand over-representation to district collectors," state Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi said.
Disqualification of the MLA means Congress's tally in the 182-member assembly declined to 74. The party had won 77 seats in 2017, but it came down to 76 after Kunvarji Bavaliya's resignation last year, and to 75 after Unjha MLA Asha Patel quit last month.
BJP MLA and former minister Babu Bokhiria were also convicted in a case of illegal mining in 2013 and sentenced to three years imprisonment. However, the SC order regarding disqualification of convicted lawmakers had come two weeks after that. He was later acquitted by a court in Porbandar. The last Gujarat MLA to be disqualified was Jairajsinh Jadeja of BJP after he was awarded life sentence in a murder case in August 2017.