Karnataka whose horse is it anyway?

The Karnataka imbroglio has brought to the fore, the role of the Speaker in the Assembly. Amid accusations that the Speaker was delaying the vote, the Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala fired off three directives that the trust vote be conducted. The Supreme Court also directed the Speaker to complete the floor test by end of day on Tuesday.

Speaker KR Ramesh finally called for the trust vote on Tuesday evening and also showed his resignation letter that he had kept ready. He did, however, delay the vote by allowing members of the Congress and JD (S) combine to record their views on the floor of the House. He also did not yield to demands to disqualify the 15 dissident MLAs, instead seeking an explanation from them on their conduct. The MLAs did not meet him and instead sent an advocate and had even taken four weeks’ time to respond.

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy lost the vote 99 to 105, ending the 14-month-old government.

Political analysts point out that the Speaker belonged to the Congress and was Siddaramaiah’s choice when the coalition was stitched together. Also, most of the Congress MLAs who resigned now are said to be from the Siddaramaiah camp. Siddaramaiah and Deve Gowda have had a running feud for over a decade and Siddaramaiah was forced to leave JDS in 2007 and join the Congress. The alliance now was forced due to the situation where both wanted to oppose the BJP, but the Kumaraswamy government had made it very difficult for Siddaramaiah’s close associates forcing them to walk out. The government has had many days of fights between the Congress and JDS camps through its 14 month tenure.

Earlier in the day, hearing a case filed by independent MLAs that the Speaker was unduly delaying the process, the apex court reaffirmed that it cannot order the Speaker on their petition. The MLAs were represented by Mukul Rohatgi who asked the Court to direct the Speaker to conduct the trust vote at once.

Both Congress and JD(S) leaders were bent upon recording their stand in the Assembly so as to make things clear to the people. “The dissident MLAs resigned following BJPs inducement. They have indulged in horse trading. The BJP saying that they don’t have any connection to the MLAs resignation is a lie,” ruling Congress-JD (S) combine leaders said.

What are the powers and responsibilities of the Speaker and how far can courts interfere in matters related to the Assembly? A related case pertaining to Tamil Nadu is in progress in the Supreme Court.

On August 22, 2017, 19 MLAs belonging to TTV Dhinakaran’s faction in the Tamil Nadu Assembly met the then TN Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and withdrew their support to the Edappadi Palaniswami government.

Then AIADMK party whip S Rajendran on August 24, 2017 urged Speaker P Dhanapal to disqualify the dissident MLAs. But the Speaker gave them time till September 18, 2017. After that, Under ‘The Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Disqualification Grounds of Defection) Rules, 1986’, the Speaker disqualified the MLAs. One MLA was exempted as he changed his decision and shifted loyalties to the ruling government at the last moment.

The disqualified MLAs went to court. The case was heard at the Madras High Court by a two-member division bench. Chief Justice  Indira Banerjee ruled in favour of the Speaker’s decision while the second judge Justice Sundar was against it.

The case was referred to a third judge Justice M Satyanarayana, who endorsed Speaker Dhanapal’s decision. “The Speaker has given enough time and dishonouring party whip deserves action,” he said in his order. Sensing that the case will not stand in the Supreme Court, Dinakaran did not pursue it. Points to note are that the Speaker took enough time to disqualify the MLAs and it took 13 months for the court to spell its order.

Tamil Nadu had the support of the Centre, whereas in the case of Karnataka, the Union government is against it. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who appeared against Karnataka dissident MLAs, fought in favour of 18 disqualified TN MLAs and Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared against the Speaker and party whip in the Karnataka case, appeared on behalf of the Speaker and party whip in the TN case.

In February, 2017, 11 MLAs, including O Panneerselvam, voted against the party whip on the no confidence vote against the Edappadi Palaniswami government. But the party whip did not complain to the Speaker. In the meantime, OPS changed his decision and extended support to the government and things eased out. The DMK and Dhinakaran faction went to court asking why didn’t the party whip take any action against OPS. The court has not passed any order in this case for more than two years now.

BJP leaders have been talking about wiping Congress off the country’s politics.

From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to BS Yeddyurappa, every state BJP leader has been chanting the ‘India sans Congress’ slogan. They have also swung into action in various ways to achieve this objective. As in Karnataka, opposition MLAs and MPs are being poached in other states too.

In the Goa Assembly elections in 2017, out of 40 seats, Congress bagged 17 and BJP got 13 seats. But BJP quickly cobbled up numbers to form a government. Today, Congress has only five members in the Goa Assembly. Twelve Congress MLAs have since joined the BJP. In Meghalaya, the Congress has been ruling for many years. Last February, even before the Assembly elections, five Congress MLAs defected to the BJP. Even now, though the Congress is the single largest  party in the Assembly, National People’s Party-BJP combine is ruling the state.

BJP is in power on the strength of its own in four of the eight north eastern states and with alliance partners in three other states. Tripura, which was the Communists’ stronghold, is now under BJP rule. In Mizoram, the Speaker of the Assembly belonging to the  Congress, resigned and joined the BJP, making a mockery of democracy. Recently, two Rajya Sabha MPs of Telugu Desam Party joined the BJP. In West Bengal, BJPs hunt for MPs and MLAs is still on.

In 2003, Gegong Apang left Congress and joined the BJP to become chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh. Then he shifted loyalites and returned to the Congress to become CM. He again shifted his allegiance to the BJP. If people voted him to power irrespective of the party he belonged to, how does one punish those who defect? The declining importance for the people who voted has saddened many democracy enthusiasts.