Koliwad disposes disqualification of MLAs

Bengaluru: Former Karnataka Legislative Assembly Speaker K.B. Koliwad has dismissed the petition which sought the disqualification of seven JD(S) rebel MLAs, on Friday. This move has put a barrier to one of the strategies of the BJP for bringing down the numbers of the Congress-JD(S) coalition. Three of the seven MLAs have been re-elected.

The Karnataka High Court had asked the Speaker to pass an order over the disqualification of the MLAs before May 27. Since the 14^th Vidhana Soudha was dissolved on Thursday, the petition was rendered infructuous. Koliwad said that the advocates of the Speaker’s office had already submitted a memo to the High Court which laid down that the petition was infructutous and so it could not be revoked by a new Speaker.