The Rajasthan High Court, on the 17th of July, announced its iterim order to hold off the disqualification action taken against Sachin Pilot, the former Deputy Chief Minister of Rajasthan and 18 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAse.)
The orders came hours before the deadline set by speaker CP Joshi’s office for responding to the notice was to expire.
The Pilot political team filed a petition in the HC challenging the validatity of the notice under the Tenth Schedule a way to stifle their “freedom of speech” and to impose the “majoritarian views of the party on them”.
Two judges of the Rajasthan was hearing Pilot’s challenge to the disqualification notice.
In their writ petition, the legislators argued that they had neither given up their membership of the House nor did their failure to attend the two Congress legislature party meetings make them liable fro disqualification on the grounds of defection.
The Pilot camp termed the notices under the Tenth Schedule a way to stifle their “freedom of speech” and to impose the “majoritarian views of the party on them”
If the rebel MLA are disqualified, the majority mark in the 200-member assembly will come down, making it easier for chief minister Ashok Gehlot to win a floor test.
In another development, the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan Police has registered two first information reports (FIRs) against two incriminating audiotapes in which a Congress lawmaker is purportedly talking to a middleman and a person named Gajendra Singh about toppling the Ashok Gehlot-led government.
The SOG is also investigating another case related to sedition against two persons, who have been arrested, on the basis of intercepts of two mobile phones that pertain to an alleged bid to oust the Gehlot Government.
Stay tuned for further updates.
