Apex court gives relief to Amar Singh, Jaya Prada

NEW DELHI - Expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and actress-turned-politician Jaya Prada Monday got relief from the Supreme Court which said they would not attract disqualification from parliament even if they defy the party whip while voting.

Amar Singh is a member of the Rajya Sabha and Jaya Prada is a member of the Lok Sabha. Both were elected on the Samajwadi Party tickets.

The apex court bench of Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Cyriac Joseph said the court’s earlier verdict in G. Vishwanaths case would not be applied to them till their petitions are decided by a larger bench.

Under the anti-defection law, a MP or a legislator loses his membership of the house if he voluntarily gives up the membership of the party he belongs to.

However, in Vishwanathans case the apex court held that the status of an expelled member was as good as that of one who had voluntarily given up party membership. Thus, an expelled party member would attract disqualification like the one who gives up his party membership voluntarily.

The petitions of Amar Singh and Jaya Prada have been referred to a larger bench for hearing. The court framed seven issues to be answered by the larger bench.

These includes the question about the status of a member of a legislature who has been expelled by the party that had fielded him/her as a candidate in an election.

Another question is whether the provisions of the tenth schedule of the constitution dealing with anti-defection law apply to such members.

The framed issues also include a question on whether the view of the apex court in the Vishwanathan’s judgment that even expelled members of a party were deemed to be the member of its parliamentary party was correct.

Another question raised is: can a member upon expulsion from the party join another party or form his own party. Would this amount to having voluntarily given up the membership of the party?

Speaking for the bench, Justice Kabir said that initially under the anti-defection law it was thought to include an expelled member at par with one who had voluntarily given up his membership of the party but this provision was dropped.

The court said that something that was not intended by the legislature could not be imported into statute by way of apex court judgment.

We are also convinced that the decision in G. Vishwanathans case merits another look as far as members of the house who are expelled from parties that had put them up as candidate during elections,” the court said.