The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Wednesday filed a writ petition in the Rajasthan High Court challenging the merger of six BSP MLAs with the ruling Congress in Rajasthan. BSP state president Bhagwan Singh Baba said: "We have today filed a writ petition in the high court against the merger of BSP MLAs with Congress".
Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Deepchand Kheria, Lakhan Meena, Jogendra Awana and Rajendra Gudha contested and won the 2018 assembly elections on BSP tickets. But, they had applied for merger as a group with the Congress on September 16, 2019. The speaker had then passed an order declaring that the six MLAs be treated as an "integral part" of the Congress. For the Gehlot-led government, the merger meant that the Congress tally increased to 107 in a house of 200.
In a statement, BSP announced that the state-level merger won't stand as nothing of the sort has happened at the national level. BSP General Secretary Satish Chandra Misra said: "All six MLAs have been issued separate notices wherein they have been informed that since BSP is a recognised national party as such there cannot be any merger under para (4) of the 10th Schedule at the state level at the instance of six MLAs unless there is a merger of the entire BSP everywhere at the national level."
If the six MLAs voted against the party whip, they were liable for disqualification from the assembly, Mishra said. He also said the BSP would intervene in the pending petition of disqualification before the Rajasthan High Court or file a separate writ petition.They all defected to the Congress in September 2019.
