MLAs have democratic right to resign: K'taka Speaker

New Delhi/Bengaluru: The Karnataka Assembly Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri on Wednesday said that the legislators have a democratic right to resign from the membership of the House and urged the Court court to lay down guidelines for Speakers while so that such controversies can be avoided in future.

Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Karnataka Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri told the Supreme Court that legislators have a democratic right to resign and urged the court to lay down guidelines for Speakers so that such controversies can be avoided in future.

“It is not defection if you give up membership of a political party for reasons of conscience, then you resign and go back to face the public mandate. This is recognition of the MLA’s right to resign,” Mehta told a bench of Justice NV Ramana, Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Krishna Murari.

Mehta further added that an MLA who does not agree with the views of his party and resigns from the membership of the House can go back to the electorate and seek a fresh mandate, Mehta said.

However, Justice Ramana shot back at Tushar saying, “How can we lay down guidelines for the Speaker? He is a constitutional authority, we cannot encroach.”

The top court was hearing a plea by 17 disqualified Karnataka Assembly lawmakers seeking to put on hold the Election Commission notification for elections to the seats that fell vacant after they were unseated following their disqualification by the former Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar.