Politics | Testing times ahead for BJP in Karnataka

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Despite dealing with a mountain of evidence that some 17 Karnataka MLAs had resorted to defection ‘motivated by the lure of office’, a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court has let them off with a mere rap on the knuckles rather than awarding them a harsher punishment.

The Bench headed by Justice NV Ramana, while upholding the Karnataka assembly Speaker’s action in disqualifying them, failed to enlarge the scope of the Tenth Schedule (dealing with political defections) to make it more stringent. Thus, the defecting MLAs, though carrying the taint of disqualification, will be allowed to seek re-election immediately. By-elections to 15 seats to the assembly have already been notified, and are scheduled to be held on December 5.

Despite advocate Kapil Sibal’s plea to the court “to read into the Constitution” the Speaker’s power to bar a disqualified member from re-contesting the election immediately, the apex court said “such change in policy cannot be looked into by the court as it squarely falls within the legislative forte.”

The argument put forth by the legislators that they had a fundamental right to resign as members of the assembly and the Speaker should have considered the resignations before initiating the disqualification proceedings initiated against them was partially accepted by the court. The court held: “The MLA may resign for a variety of reasons, may be good or bad, but it is his prerogative. Once it is demonstrated that the member is resigning willingly and voluntarily, the Speaker has no option but to accept it. It is constitutionally impermissible for the Speaker to take into account any other extraneous factors while considering resignations.”

The court regretted that horse-trading and corrupt practices associated with defections for the lure of office had not abated, adding, that if the purpose of the Tenth Schedule was defeated, it would endanger the foundations of democracy. However, the court rejected the demand for referring the issue to a larger Bench saying that no substantial question of law had been raised in the present case.

On the political side, the court permitting the disqualified MLAs to stand for re-election comes as a huge relief to the BS Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. His government, which came to power on July 26, following the collapse of the Congress-Janata Dal(Secular) coalition government, has only 105 MLAs on its side and needs to win at least eight out of 15 seats to attain a simple majority in the House.

Since the fall of their government, the Congress and the JD(S) have turned bitter rivals with two former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and HD Kumaraswamy attacking each other.

The Congress and the JD(S), unlike in the Lok Sabha elections last May, will be contesting the elections separately, which may help the prospects of the BJP candidates. However, since most of the Congress rebels will be contesting on the BJP symbol, Siddaramaiah has vowed to defeat them, asking the people to “teach them a lesson.”

The Congress too will be banking on some defectors from the BJP such as Raju Kage, Ashok Poojary and Sharath Bachegowda, as they are being denied ticket by the BJP to make way for those migrating from the Congress.

Yediyurappa will be under tremendous pressure to show good result in the elections, not only to save his government but to prove to his detractors within the party that he still commands respect among the people.

When the BJP government was formed in July, Yediyurappa was not given a free hand and, in fact, the party high command imposed three deputy chief ministers (DCMs) much against his wish. It appears that the BJP is searching for a successor to Yediyurappa (who has crossed 76 years) but if the performance of the DCMs so far is anything to go by, none of them is likely to impress the party leadership.

Additionally, after the by-elections, at least a handful of the winning ‘defectors’ will have to be accommodated in the Cabinet as promised by Yediyurappa. Some of them may have to be given important ministries, which may not go well with the BJP loyalists.

Clearly, testing times are ahead for the BJP in Karnataka.