Goa Speaker rejects disqualification plea against 8 Congress MLAs who defected to BJP

On Friday, Goa assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar dismissed a petition that sought to disqualify eight Congress MLAs who joined the BJP in 2022. Tawadkar ruled that these lawmakers would not face disqualification since their original party, the Congress, had merged with the BJP. According to his statement, a lawmaker cannot be disqualified if they choose to either support or reject a merger of their political party with another.

The disqualification case was filed by former Goa Congress chief Girish Chodankar against MLAs who defected to the BJP, including prominent names like Digambar Kamat and Michael Lobo. These eight MLAs joined the BJP on September 14, 2022, boosting the ruling party's strength to 28 members in the 40-member Goa assembly. The speaker noted that the group passed a resolution to merge the Congress legislative party with the BJP, and this type of merger exempts legislators from disqualification under the anti-defection law.

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Next steps and reactions

Lawyer Abhijit Gosavi, representing Chodankar, expressed disappointment but said the decision was expected. He mentioned that this ruling allows them to pursue a legal review in the Supreme Court to clarify anti-defection laws. Chodankar also voiced frustration, accusing the speaker, who had welcomed these MLAs into the BJP, of partiality. He believes this ruling contradicts the spirit of the anti-defection law, which was intended to prevent lawmakers from switching parties so freely.

On the other hand, Aleixo Sequeira, one of the MLAs who switched parties, supported the decision, stating that they had studied the legal implications before making the move. Sequeira expressed confidence that the speaker’s decision would uphold their defection as legally justified.