Bhubaneswar: Odisha Congress has moved a petition, seeking disqualification of Sofia Firdous (Barabati-Cuttack) and Dasarathi Gamango (Mohana) as MLAs under the Tenth Schedule (Anti-Defection Law) of the Constitution of India.
Congress whip C S Raazen Ekka submitted the petition to Assembly Speaker on Wednesday.
Earlier a petition was doing the rounds for disqualification of Sofia, Dasarathi and Ramesh Jena, who defied party whip and cross-voted in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha election, from the Assembly.
The Wednesday petition has invoked Paragraph 2(1)(a), stating that both MLAs have “voluntarily given up membership” of the Indian National Congress through their conduct without formally resigning. “Under Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution of India, a member of a House belonging to a political party is liable to be disqualified if he or she has voluntarily given up the membership of such political party. It is well settled that the expression “voluntarily giving up membership” is not limited to a formal resignation and may also be inferred from the conduct, actions and publi
c statements of a member,” it said.
It noted that Sofia had made public statements in the media openly criticising and opposing the decision of the party and its leadership at both the state and national levels. It also mentioned that her father and former MLA, Mohammed Moquim, was suspended from Congress for anti-party activities. “Despite this, Sofia Firdaus has participated in public programmes associated with him and publicly defended such initiative including formation of a new political party, Such statements and association with activities contrary to the party’s position further reflect conduct inconsistent with discipline and collective decision of the political party on whose ticket she was elected,” it added.
In case of Dasarathi, the petition said that he deliberately remained unreachable and did not communicate with the party leadership. “A show-cause notice was issued to the said member regarding his conduct. In his reply to the said notice, he has questioned and criticised the decision of the party leadership,” it said.
The petition cited the disqualification of Sharad Yadav from Rajya Sabha in 2017 when conduct and public statements were deemed sufficient to establish defection.
The Speaker has been urged to review the evidence and initiate disqualification proceedings, with scope for submission of additional supporting material.
On March 17, the AICC President had approve the proposal for suspension of three MLAs – Sofia Firdous, Dasarathi Gamango, and Ramesh Jena – with immediate effect.