Manipur assembly speaker Y Khemchand on August 14 announced that he has accepted the resignation of Congress MLA P Brojen.
He also said the speaker’s tribunal also decided that P Brojen did not violate the 10th schedule of the Indian Constitution. Now out of 13 seats, 10 of Congress and three of BJP are vacant.
Khemchand said P Brojen had submitted his resignation along with five other Congress MLAs on August 10. The resignations of the other five MLAs were accepted however the paper of Brojen was not accepted as a case was pending in the speaker’s tribunal. The decision of the tribunal was awaited to take a decision on the resignation of the MLA.
The tribunal ordered that, “Having considered the materials and pleadings made by the parties which are the facts of the present case as well as the decisions of the Supreme Court of India which are applicable in the facts and circumstances of the present case, it is established beyond doubt that there is no material for presuming that the respondent had voluntarily given up the membership of INC. Hence, the tribunal came to the conclusion that the respondent had/has not violated the provisions of the tenth schedule of the Constitution of India. The tribunal, therefore, holds that the above disqualification cases are devoid of merit and are liable to be dismissed.”
M Ramani Devi, secretary, Manipur legislative assembly had already issued bulletins declaring the seats occupied by the other five MLAs as vacant. The other MLAs were O Lukhoi of Wangoi AC, Abdul Nasir of Lilong AC, Ngamthang Haokip of Saitu, Ginsuanhau of Singhat and Okram Henry of Wangkhei.
The 60-member Manipur assembly has now 47 legislators. Th Shyamkumar of Congress was disqualified for joining BJP. Four MLAs of the Congress were later disqualified for joining the BJP. Three BJP MLAs were also disqualified. It was followed by resignation of five MLAs on August 10 and subsequent resignation of another MLA on August 14.
