SC disqualifies 13 breakaway BSP MLAs of UP Assembly

New Delhi, Feb 14 (UNI) In a landmark judgement on defections within political parties, the Supreme Court today dismissed the petitions of 37 UP MLAs belonging to the BSP breakaway group, who had formed an independent group called the Bahujan Loktantrik Dal (BLD) and enabled Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav to form a government in the state.

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, held that 13 MLAs of the breakaway group, who had defected on August 27, 2003, were guilty of defection and disqualified them as MLAs.

The apex court also held that the split in the political parties has to be prima facie demonstrated and claims of a split do not matter.

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