Ruling Party Can Seek Votes Of Opposition MLAs During RS Polls: Assam Speaker

A day after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma claimed support of suspended Congress MLA Sashi Kanta Das for the Rajya Sabha polls, Assam Assembly Speaker Biswajit Daimary on Monday said there is no bar in seeking votes of opponent legislators for elections to the Upper House. Daimary claimed after the amendment of the anti-defection law, “anyone can vote for any candidate”. Earlier in the day after the state Assembly witnessed an uproarious scene over alleged "horse trading" of opposition MLAs by the ruling BJP, Sarma drew Daimary's attention and sought a clarification over several issues. "The Opposition is questioning me for visiting Das' house in Raha. Speaker sir, you please give a ruling on three points today. First, can a CM or any minister visit the house of opposition MLAs? I consider all as equals and visit everyone's house while visiting a constituency," Sarma said. He also sought a clarification on whether campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha polls and if the elections to the Upper House fall under the criterion of "festival of democracy".

The chief minister also claimed that the Congress candidate for Rajya Sabha had called him and sought support for the RS polls. Replying to his queries, the Speaker said: "Yes, a CM can visit the house of any MLA of the state. The CM has no jurisdiction and he can visit any place. Even if not invited, a CM can visit a place to take stock of the situation." Daimary also said that campaigning is allowed in Rajya Sabha elections and there is no bar in a ruling party candidate seeking the votes of an opposition MLA for the same. "As per the latest amendment of the anti-defection law, if an MLA votes for the rival candidate of his party, then it will not be termed as anti-defection. The party may expel him or her from primary membership, but legally there is no binding (on him to vote in a certain fashion). Anyone can vote for any candidate," he claimed. However, according to Clause 2 (1b) of the Tenth Schedule, a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if he votes or abstains from voting ...contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which he belongs or by any person or authority authorised by it in this behalf, without obtaining the prior permission of such political party, person or authority and such voting or abstention has not been condoned by such political party within 15 days from the date of such voting or abstention. Terming the Speaker’s statement as “unfortunate”, Opposition leaders and legal experts alleged that the Speaker is not functioning neutrally but like a "BJP MLA" only. When contacted, Gauhati High Court Advocate Santanu Borthakur told PTI that as per the last amendment of the Anti-Defection Law, cross voting does not attract any punitive measure. "However, being in a Constitutional post and acting as a neutral person, the Speaker should not have said this inside the House. In a way, he encouraged cross-voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls. This affected the non-partisan stature of the Speaker," he added.

Citing the Kuldeep Nayar vs Union of India case, Borthakur said, the Supreme Court had stated in its judgement that Rajya Sabha voting does not take place inside the House and so Anti-Defection Law is not applicable in case of cross-voting. The Anti-Defection Law is applicable to only the matters inside the House like voting on a resolution, bill or motion. The Rajya Sabha voting is not purely secret as the MLA has to show his vote to the party's polling agent, the Advocate said citing the apex court judgement. Assam Congress working president and MLA Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha slammed Daimary for his statement and alleged that he is "working for the BJP". "We have seen in recent times that not a single word of the Speaker is neutral. He speaks like the chief minister. If he continues to behave like this, it will be a threat to democracy," he told PTI. Reacting to Daimary's statement, Raijor Dal president and MLA Akhil Gogoi said that the Speaker of the House should be neutral and independent in terms of Constitutional and legal matters, even though he comes from the ruling party. "Unfortunately, the Assam Assembly Speaker is acting like a BJP MLA. He probably made that statement to tempt the opposition MLAs to vote for the BJP. Otherwise, there was no need to make that statement. It was a politically motivated statement," he told PTI.

During the day, the united opposition, comprising the Congress, AIUDF, CPI(M) and the Raijor Dal, staged a walkout from the Assembly after shouting slogans in the well of the House for 35 minutes over alleged "horse trading" by Sarma and his party colleagues. The chief minister on Sunday had claimed that Das will vote for BJP-led NDA candidates during the Rajya Sabha election in the state on March 31. Das, a first time MLA from Raha constituency, on December 20 had announced that he had "joined the government" but would continue to remain in the  Congress. Das was given a show-cause notice by the Congress soon after he had made the comment from the Chief Minister’s Chamber in the Assembly complex.  He was subsequently suspended from the party. The BJP has nominated Pabitra Margherita as its candidate for one Rajya Sabha seat, while its ally United People's Party Liberal's (UPPL) working president Rwngwra Narzary was named for the second seat. The two Rajya Sabha seats from Assam for which polling will be held on March 31 are currently held by Ripun Bora and Ranee Narah of the Congress. Bora is in the fray this time as the Opposition parties' joint candidate. All the three candidates filed their nominations on Monday. There are seven Rajya Sabha seats from the northeastern state.

PTI Inputs