On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court overturned the suspension order issued by Delhi Legislative Assembly Speaker Ram Niwas Goel, which had suspended seven Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from the house. The decision came after the MLAs sought legal recourse by moving the High Court to challenge the speaker’s decision. Justice Subramanium Prasad issued the order in response to the MLAs’ petition.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds eight seats in the 70-member Delhi Legislative Assembly. However, seven of these BJP Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs) were suspended on accusations of disrupting the address of Lieutenant Governor (LG) Vinai Kumar Saxena.
The suspended legislators include Vijender Gupta, Ajay Kumar Mahawar, Anil Kumar Bajpai, Om Prakash Sharma, Jitender Mahajan, Mohan Singh Bisht, and Abhay Verma.
Contending that the speaker’s decision was “grossly unconstitutional,” the BJP MLAs asserted that the suspension of almost the entire opposition stifled any voice of accountability. They argued that the motion initiated by AAP MLA Dilip Pandey was designed to disable opposition members from participating in crucial discussions and exclude them from the budget session of the House.
The BJP legislators also claimed that the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was politicizing their suspension by drawing comparisons to the suspension of AAP MP Raghav Chadha from Parliament. They highlighted that they had apologized to the Lieutenant Governor, and their apologies were accepted.
