SC allows Rajasthan Speaker to withdraw petition

New Delhi, July 27: The Speaker of the Rajasthan assembly has requested the Supreme Court to permit him to withdrawn his petition. The Supreme Court has allowed the Speaker to withdraw his plea.

The Speaker had challenged the decision of the Rajasthan High Court, which had directed him not to act against rebel Congress MLAs including Sachin Pilot.

The Speaker's decision to move the SC was meant to make the HC follow the 1992 Kihoto Hollohon verdict. However the HC has now restrained the Speaker from acting on the disqualification notices and this is in breach of the Hollohon verdict, according to the Speaker.

Senior counsel, Kapil Sibal told the court that the Rajasthan High Court had passed a detailed order relating to disqualification proceedings pending before the Speaker. We will contest it there and if the need arises, we will come again to the Supreme Court, he said while adding that the HC is not following the five judge Bench order of the SC.

The SC had enlarged the scope of the debate around the Rajasthan crisis and has sought to know if dissent could be stifled through disqualification.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said his party wants a floor test in the state Assembly and is "begging" for it, but the governor is not convening the House and "delaying" the trust vote allegedly at the behest of the central government.

He also cited Supreme Court judgements and several precedents including those of Rajasthan Assembly with regard to the convening of the Assembly session to assert that the Governor cannot act of his own and can only do so with the advice of the Cabinet.

"Such superficial, clearly motivated, digressive and extraneous queries establish beyond doubt that they are coming from the highest authorities of the central government and being parroted without change as His Master's Voice from Raj Bhawan, Jaipur.

"We all know who that Master is. But, it decimates the lustre and dignity of the Governor's constitutional position," Singhvi said at a virtual press conference.

Governor Kalraj Mishra had on Friday sought clarifications on six points from the state government, after Congress MLAs held a five-hour dharna on the lawns of the Raj Bhawan in Jaipur pressing for the convening of the Assembly.

The governor asked Chief Minister Asok Gehlot to submit again, with the clarifications, his recommendation for calling a session.

A statement from the governor included queries on the free movement of MLAs and the reason why the session needed to be called urgently.

The governor on Saturday night received a revised proposal from the state cabinet requesting that a session of the Assembly be called on July 31, Raj Bhawan sources said on Sunday.

Asked if the party would challenge the Rajasthan High Court judgement, Singhvi said the fight was not in the courtroom but in the state Assembly where a floor test would determine who has the numbers.