The Gauhati High Court on Tuesday stayed the operation of a January 1 notification issued by the Assam Assembly Secretariat de-recognising Congress MLA Debabarata Saikia as the Leader of the Opposition in the House.
The notification had said the status was withdrawn as the strength of the Congress in the 126-member House had gone below the minimum 21 MLAs required.
Hearing the Congress leader’s lawyer, Judge Achintya Malla Bujor Barua noted that the Congress was the largest recognised party among the Opposition in the House and there was no material to indicate Mr. Saikia was not the leader of the Congress Legislature Party.
Mr. Saikia was also found to have fulfilled all the requirements to continue as the Leader of the Opposition, the court said and issued notices to the Secretary and Principal Secretary of the Assembly, along with the Chief Secretary, for a reply within two weeks.
The Congress had won 26 seats in the 2016 polls to take the second spot after the BJP that had bagged 60 seats.
Six months later, Baithalangso MLA Mansing Rongpi quit the Congress and got re-elected on a BJP ticket. In 2019, Jania MLA Abdul Khaleque resigned after winning the Barpeta Lok Sabha seat as the Congress candidate. The All India United Democratic Front’s Rafiqul Islam won the Jania Assembly seat in the by-election.
Between February and November 2020, the Congress lost Sibsagar MLA Pranab Kumar Gogoi and former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who represented the Titabar Assembly seat.
In December 2020, two MLAs — Ajanta Neog (Golaghat) and Rajdeep Goala (Lakhipur) — had quit and joined the BJP.
