The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by BJP leader and MLC A.H. Vishwanath against a State High Court order disqualifying him from being appointed a Minister.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde said the disqualification would hold if a person is only nominated as an MLC and not elected. “Special leave petitions are dismissed,” the court ordered.
Mr. Vishwanath was one of the 17 dissident legislators whose disqualification by the Speaker under the anti-defection law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2019. Their defection had led to the toppling of the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) coalition government. The apex court, in its 2019 judgment, did not bar the disqualified legislators from contesting byelection. Mr. Vishwanath, however, did not manage to get re-elected. He was later nominated as MLC by the Governor. He was in the race to become a Minister in the present BJP government under Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa before the High Court order became a stumbling block.
Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, for Mr. Vishwanath, argued that his disqualification was only “restricted to the capacity of the office from which I have been disqualified” and not from appointment as a Minister. “If you come back elected it is fine. If you are simply nominated, it cannot be,” Chief Justice Bobde agreed with the High Court's conclusions. The Bench said the HC was well-reasoned.
