Bengaluru: There will be no obstacle for the seven rebel MLAs of the Janata Dal (S) to cast their votes in Friday’s election to the Rajya Sabha as the High Court of Karnataka on Thursday adjourned till April 2 the hearing on the petition related to a plea for their disqualification.
Justice Raghavendra S. Chauhan adjourned further hearing on the request made by Jayakumar S. Patil, senior advocate appearing on behalf of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.
The petition has been filed by two JD(S) MLAs, C.N. Balakrishna and B.B. Ningaiah, complaining that the Speaker had failed to give his decision on the petitioners’ plea, filed in 2016 for disqualifying the seven MLAs for voting in favour of the Congress candidate in the elections held to the Rajya Sabha in 2016 by violating the party’s whip.
The seven rebel MLAs are B.Z. Zameer Ahmed Khan, A.B. Ramesh Bandisidde Gowda, N. Cheluvarayaswamy, H.C. Balakrishna, Akhanda Sriniva Murthy R., Iqbal Ansari, and S. Bheemanaik.
