Two senior ministers in Shivraj Singh Chouhan cabinet – Tulsiram Silawat and Govind Rajput – have lost their ministerial berth automatically as they have completed six months as ministers without being elected MLAs.
Both ministers, considered closest to Rajya Sabha member Jyotiraditya Scindia, have sent their formal resignations to the chief minister.
Meanwhile, in another development, the MP High Court on Wednesday issued notices to the governor, chief minister, assembly speaker of Madhya Pradesh and Election Commission of India on a petition challenging appointment of 14 non-MLAs as ministers in the state. All the 14 ministers (two of them have resigned since) have also been served notices by the HC.
A division bench headed by acting Chief Justice of MP HC, Sanjay Yadav, issued the notices on a petition of Chhindwara-based lawyer Aradhana Bhargava who said in the petition that the appointment of 14 non-MLAs was violation of article 164(4) and article 10 of Indian constitution.
The next hearing in the case is, however, scheduled on December 14, well after the bypolls results are out and the fate of the ministers is decided.
Speaking to THE WEEK, the petitioner said that as per provisions of article 164(4), non-MLAs can be made ministers in special circumstances that were not present in case of Madhya Pradesh. Rather, the state, already facing economic and health emergencies due to COVID-19 pandemic, has been burdened with the by-elections, she said.
Ex-ministers in fray as common candidates
Silawat, who was the water resources minister and Rajput, who was revenue and transport minister, were among the first five ministers to be inducted in the Chouhan cabinet on April 21, more than a month after they resigned as Congress ministers and MLAs on March 11. So, their six-month term came to an end on October 20.
After losing their berths, the two ministers will also lose all government privileges and will be contesting the upcoming bypolls as common candidates, experts say. Silawat is contesting on BJP ticket from Sanver in Indore, while Rajput is BJP candidate from Surkhi in Sagar district. Along with these two, 12 other ministers of Chouhan cabinet are contesting the Madhya Pradesh bypolls – an unprecedented happening.
On the election campaign after resigning, Silawat said that ministerial berths were important to serve people, but even without being a minister people could be served and he will continue to do so. “Post is not important to me. I had resigned from MLA and minister’s post (of Congress) earlier too,” he said.
The principal secretary of MP State Assembly, A.P. Singh told THE WEEK that as per constitutional provisions, ministers who are not MLAs can hold their posts only for maximum six months and then they either resign or automatically lose their berths.
“They could have been re-inducted into the cabinet after resignations, but since the model code of conduct is in place, this is not possible. So both the ministers would have automatically lost their berths,” the principal secretary said.
The opposition Congress had already written to the in-charge governor Anandiben Patel and the Election Commission of India to ensure that the two ministers were removed from the cabinet, Congress spokesman K.K. Mishra told THE WEEK.
