14 Karnataka MLAs to challenge their disqualification in SC

Bengaluru: All the 14 Karnataka rebel legislators, who were disqualified by Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar on Sunday for defying their party whips to attend the House on July 23, said they would challenge the Speaker’s decision in the Supreme Court on Monday.

A day before the trust vote on the B.S. Yediyurappa government in the Karnataka Assembly, the Speaker disqualified 14 rebel MLAs of the Congress and Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) for defying their party whips to attend the House on July 23, when former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy put the confidence motion to vote for proving majority, but failed to do.

The rebel MLAs said they would challenge their disqualification in the Supreme Court as their joint petitions had sought its directive for accepting forthwith their resignations re-submitted on July 11 before the Congress and the JD-S issued a whip to them to attend the session on July 23 and long before former Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy moved the confidence motion on July 18.