Seven BJP MLAs approach Delhi High Court challenging suspension of budget session

Seven Bharatiya Janata Party MPs on Monday approached the Delhi High Court seeking a stay of the remainder of the budget session of the Delhi Assembly for interrupting the Lieutenant Governor’s speech.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Manmohan and Justice Manmeet PS Arora mentioned the plea seeking urgent inclusion in the list, which allowed the plea to be taken up on the same day Hearing.

The BJP MLAs allegedly interrupted Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena several times during his speech on February 15 highlighting the achievements of the AAP government as they tried to attack the Arvind Kejriwal government on a range of issues.

Senior advocate Jayant Mehta mentioned the matter and said the MLAs were wrongly suspended and their right to participate in the proceedings was affected.

He said the motion to suspend MLA was unconstitutional and against the rules. He further said that an MLA can be suspended for up to three days but the suspension here is indefinite.

AAP MLA Dilip Pandey has moved a resolution in the House seeking action on the issue, which has been accepted by the Speaker. Delhi Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel had also referred the issue of disruption to the Privileges Committee on February 15.

Seven members of the BJP, except Leader of Opposition Ramveer Singh Bidhuri, were barred from attending the House proceedings while the report was pending. The seven suspended members are Mohan Singh Bisht, Ajay Mahawar, OP Sharma, Abhay Verma, Anil Vajpayi, Jitender Mahajan and Vijender Gupta.

The budget session of the Delhi Assembly has been extended to the first week of March due to delays in finalizing the budget.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from associated news agency – PTI)