BJP challenges Speaker ruling in HC

Cuttack: The BJP on Friday filed a writ petition in Orissa High Court challenging the August 1 ruling of Odisha Assembly Speaker which rejected the party's demand of freezing membership of Bhimsen Choudhury.

The Bonai legislator Bhimsen Choudhury had been suspended from BJP for allegedly defying party whip during the 2010 Rajya Sabha elections.

With Speaker Pradip Kumar Amat allowing Choudhury to continue as an MLA, the BJP party has approached the Orissa High Court over the issue.

The BJP legislature party secretary Karendra Majhi has filed the writ seeking to quash the ruling of the Speaker and to declare Choudhury's continuance as MLA null and void for he had incurred disqualification for violating the provisions of 10th schedule of the Constitution.

"The writ which was filed today is likely to be listed for adjudication next week," hoped Majhi's counsel Gopal Kumar Agarwal. The petitioner-advocate maintains that the controversial legislator had defied the party whip and voluntarily abstained himself from voting in the 2010 Rajya Sabha elections.

Seeking disqualification of Choudhury as a legislator, the BJP had earlier approached the Assembly Speaker. The Speaker, however, had turned down the BJP petition ruling that participation in Rajya Sabha election was not a proceeding of the State Legislative Assembly, thereby allowing Choudhury to continue as a member of the House.