Dimapur, December 14 (MExN): Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has voiced out to the Governor that the Opposition Congress which could not remove his ministry on its own majority, was attempting to reduce the Government’s majority by resignations and increasing its majority by impermissible defections and expressed his belief that the Constitution and his Government would be safe in the Governor’s hands.
Rio in a letter to Governor K. Sankaranarayanan expressed that the Congress was flouting all democratic methods by engineering resignations and defections. Rio stated that if the Opposition wanted to change the Government on the floor of the Assembly as per canons of justice laid down by the Supreme Court for change of Governments in a democratic set-up, the Opposition was welcome to do so. “Nevertheless, it is my sincere feeling which I desire to express to you that these democratic methods are being flouted by the Opposition by engineering resignations and defections which do not have protection of the Anti-defection law”, Rio stated in his letter.
Drawing attention of the Governor to what he termed as “unconstitutional methods” being adopted by the Opposition to change the Government, Rio stated that by en masse resignations and openly joining hands with defectors who do not have the sanction of legitimacy under the anti-defection law, the Congress was seeking to break the house and the Government. “The spirit of article l64(1B) and 361B which ban the appointment of defectors as ministers and to remunerative political posts will stand gravely violated if any encouragement is given to these defectors and the promoters of defections and en masse resignations”, Rio stated in his letter to the Governor.
Rio informed the Governor that during the No-Confidence Motion yesterday in the House, 9 members of the ruling NPF voted contrary to the whip issued and maintained that under the anti-defection law, whip violation is defection and whip violators are punished with disqualification. “If the whip violators are two-thirds in number of the total membership of the Legislature party, then, the whip violation is not deemed as defection and they are protected from disqualification provided first they merge with another political party and follow the whip of the party in which they have merged”, Rio stated.
He maintained that at no point of time, the Anti-defection law envisages a situation where members of political parties are freed from the obedience of whip. “Only independents are not controlled by whip”, Rio told the Governor in his letter.
Defending the action of the Speaker, Rio stated that in order to promote the scheme of the anti-defection law and to preserve its pristine goal of attaining political morals and values, the Speaker had issued a direction under Rule 19 of the Nagaland Assembly’s Anti-defection Rules that the vote of any one who votes contrary to whip issued by his political party, will not be counted until the number of such votes are two-thirds of the total strength of the Legislature Party. Rio informed that this direction was not issued by the Speaker on the eve of the No-Confidence Motion on the 13th December, 2007 but was issued on the 21st August, 2006 and re-issued for reminding the members on the 12th December, 2007. “The 9 members who voted against my whip, since did not constitute two-thirds of the total strength of my party (28), their votes were not counted in accordance with the direction of the Speaker and the scheme and goal of the anti-defection law. They are all liable for disqualification proceedings”, Rio stated.
Meanwhile, Rio informed the Governor that the Speaker has accepted the resignation of 7 members and therefore only 2 of them will face disqualification proceedings. Rio also claimed that the “whip violators, on the other hand, intended to bring down the Government first and then face disqualification proceedings but the Speaker’s direction issued a year before sought to nip the mischief in bud but advance the noble objectives of the anti-defection law”.
With regard to the petition filed by one of its member for disqualification in relation to three Independent members, Rio stated that the petitioner had sought an interim order against these members since items which involved voting in the House were coming up on the 13th December, 2007 in the House. “After receiving the respondents’ interim replies, the Speaker made a very reasonable interim order giving absolute liberty to them to participate in proceedings and vote in the House except voting on Confidence and no-Confidence motions until the petition is finally decided”, Rio explained while referring to similar interim orders passed by the Speakers of other Assemblies and even the Supreme Court. In this regard, Rio referred to what the Supreme Court has said in Special Leave Application (Civil) of 1991 against the order of the Gujarat Legislative Assembly against some members under the Anti-defection law and that the Supreme Court’s interim order in that case, allowed the member to draw only salary but without right to speak and vote in the House.
As such Rio drew the attention of the Governor that the Nagaland Legislative Assembly Speaker’s interim order issued on 13 December, 2007 in relation to the 3 respondents namely, Mr. P. Chuba, Mr. Jongshilemba and Mr. Khutovi, all Independent members, was totally reasonable with minimum restraint on the members’ rights and maximum protection to the Constitutional scheme contained in the anti-defection law.
Rio maintained that the DAN Government under his leadership had been providing governance on the basis of a Common Minimum Programme aimed at peace, progress and development and that the tasks accomplished so far by the Government have been well documented in the publication recently brought out by the Department of Information and Public Relations.
Pointing to the Constitution of India, Rio stated that it provided for a democratic polity and all Governments are popularly elected and answerable to the lower Houses of Legislatures as per Article 164 (2).
