14 Karnataka’s disqualified MLAs to challenge speaker order in Supreme Court

New Delhi, July 28: Hours after Karnataka Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar ordered the disqualification of 14 Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) legislators from Karnataka, the lawmakers said they will approach the Supreme Court to challenge the decision.

Rebel JD(S) MLA A H Vishwanath, who was disqualified, said the decision was "against the law" and he and other aggrieved legislators would approach the Supreme Court for redressal on Monday.

Vishwanath, along with other MLAs, has been camping at Aamby Valley at Lonavala near Pune, days after the rebellion against the H D Kumaraswamy government, which then lost the trust vote.

Karnataka Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar on Sunday disqualified 14 more rebel MLAs -- 11 from the Congress and three from the JD(S) -- under the anti-defection law till the end of the current term of the House in 2023.

Kumar had disqualified three Congress rebel MLAs on Thursday. "The disqualification is against the law...just under a whip served on them, you cannot force the legislators to come to the House," Vishwanath told PTI over phone.

"The speaker has disqualified 20 members of the legislature on the grounds that they have not attended the House...so against this decision pronounced by the Speaker, we are approaching the Supreme Court on Monday," the MLA said from an undisclosed location.

The disqualifications came a day ahead of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa seeking the trust vote in the assembly to prove his majority.

Meanwhile, B S Yediyurappa is widely seen to have an edge at Monday's floor test and Sunday's disqualification order will not really alter the numbers in the assembly when Yediyurappa stands in the assembly for the headcount on Monday.