New Delhi: The Supreme Court has dismissed a PIL seeking direction to remove Nitish Kumar from the office of Chief Minister of Bihar alleging that his appointment was in complete violation of the different provisions of the Constitution of India. A bench of Justices MR Shah and MM Sundresh said that post-poll alliance is allowed by anti-defection law and the 10th schedule of the Constitution, subject to certain conditions.
‘It is required to be noted that under the provisions of the anti-defection law and even the 10th Schedule, post-alliance subject to certain conditions is permissible. Hence, there is no substance in the present writ petition which deserves to be dismissed and is, accordingly, dismissed’, the apex court stated in its order. The plea sought the removal of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on the ground that he played a fraud on the electorate by getting into a post-poll alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in August this year.
Nitish Kumar’s party Janata Dal (United) won the 2020 assembly election in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), however, in August this year, JD(U) ended its coalition with BJP and went back to its former partner, RJD. The petition, filed by one Chandan Kumar, sought to declare that the post-poll alliance or coalition by Nitish Kumar and his political party JD(U) with Mahagathbandhan is a ‘fraud’ on the electorate. It further sought direction to the Parliament ‘to make proper legislation so that pre-poll alliances are not disintegrated by the money and power hungry leaders who completely alienate their party’s political program in order to meet their personal goals’.
Direct the Parliament to amend Schedule 10 of the Constitution of India in order to address the defection by the pre-poll alliance parties, it added. The 10th schedule of the Indian Constitution lays down anti-defection law, which provides the process by which legislators can be disqualified from their respective legislative Assemblies/Parliament for leaving the party on whose ticket they were he/she elected, and joining another party.
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