Maya hails SC verdict, demands Mulayam govt dismissal

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) Hailing the Supreme Court's judgement on disqualification of her party MLAs, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati today demanded the dismissal of the Mulayam Singh government in Uttar Pradesh.

''It is now clear from the apex court's judgement that the Mulayam Singh government had been constituted illegally, so it has no right to continue,'' Party general secretray Satish Misra quoted Ms Mayawati as saying here.

The BSP chief is campaigning in Uttaranchal, for the coming Assembly elections.

Ms Mayawati said she was very happy that her stand on the disqualification issue had been vindicated by today's ruling of the Supreme Court.

A five-member Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justices H K Sema, A R Lakshmanan, P K Balasubramanyan and D K Jain, in its unanimous verdict today held that 13 MLAs of the breakaway group, who had defected on August 27, 2003, were found to be guilty and therfore, they were disqualified as MLAs.

Mr Misra, who was also lawyer for his party in this case, said the court has accepted the party's prayer in the Allahbad High Court, which leaves no doubt about the disqualifictaion of all the 37 MLAs.

The Court, dismissing the appeals of 37 MLAs against Allahabad High Court judgement dated February 28, 2006, held that in the circumstances of the present case there was no such split.

The High Court has however, directed the Speaker to decide on the complaint of BSP against 13 MLAs who defected on August 27, 2003, before deciding the fate of remaining MLAs of the breakaway group.

Though the Supreme Court has not specifically clarified the fate of remaining 24 MLAs, by the implication of the judgment they also stand disqualified, he said.

The MLAs had defected from the BSP in September 2003, after which the then Speaker Kesri Nath Tripathi had recognised them as a separate group, which later merged with Samajwadi Party.

UNI