Mathany disqualified

| 09 August 2005 19:21 IST

Mathany Saldhana, the sole legislator of the United Goans Democratic Party, was yesterday disqualified, two days prior to the monsoon Assembly session.

Speaker Francisco Sardinha has disqualified him for disobeying the whip issued by the party organization.

Mr Saldhana has now decided to challenge the verdict before the high court.

He has been disqualified under sections 2 (1) (A) and (B) of the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India. The sections primarily provide disqualification if the member acts contrary to the whip issued by the party organisation.

Defying the whip issued by the party organisation, Mr Saldhana had voted in favour of the erstwhile BJP-led government, to unsuccessfully save Manohar Parrikar’s seat on 4 February.

He was then restrained twice by the speaker from voting at the time of trust vote of the Pratapsing Rane government on 4 March and the recent Rajya Sabha elections held last month.

Former chief minister Parrikar has criticized the speaker for giving a verdict in violation of the provisions of the Tenth Schedule. According to him, Mr Saldhana, being a sole legislator, was the whip of his legislator party and had decided to vote in his favour.

As the political drama continues in Goa, the 40-member Assembly has been now reduced to 36.

Following disqualification of independent legislator Philip Neri Rodrigues during the tenure of former BJP government, the high court had recently disqualified two BJP legislators, Rajendra Arlekar and Dayanand Mandrekar.

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