The State Election Commission (EC) has disqualified four BJP members of the Dharwad Zilla Panchayat for violating a whip issued by the party. The disqualified members are Annappa Desai, Ratna Patil, Manjawwa Harijan and Jyothi Bentur.
The former zilla panchayat president Chaitra Shirur said that the Election Commission’s order comes following a petition filed by the BJP. The four members had allegedly voted in favour of the no-confidence motion moved by the Congress on February 5, 2019 and it resulted in the ouster of Ms. Chaitra Shirur from the post of the panchayat president.
Sensing the possibility of cross-voting, Dharwad Rural district BJP president Iranna Jadi had issued a whip to all 10 BJP members to ensure that the no-confidence motion is defeated on the floor of the House. He had also warned that stern action will be taken against those cross-voting under the anti-defection law.
All the 11 Congress members had on January 7 approached Ms. Chaitra Shirur asking her to call for a special general body meeting to pass a no-confidence motion against her. However, Ms. Chaitra Shirur had neglected this demand and had not called for any meeting.
As there was no response from the ZP president to their demand, the Congress members approached the then ZP vice-president Shivanand Karigar on January 22, to call for a special general body meeting and even submitted a letter in this connection. After receiving the letter, Mr. Shivanand Karigar directed ZP CEO to hold a special general body meeting on February 5.
The amended Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act stipulates that a special meeting could be called if it is demanded by 1/3 of the total number of members in the House and a no-confidence motion can be moved if 2/3 of the members press for it. Despite the strength of the BJP coming down to 10 after the by-poll for the Hebballi seat and the number of Congress members going up to 11, Ms. Chaitra Shirur had continued as panchayat president as the moratorium in the amendment to the Act provided her protection from being removed before the completion of 30 months in office.