UMANG SINGHAR Vs. STATE OF MADHYA PRADESH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India has been preferred by the petitioner being aggrieved by the inaction on part of respondent No.2 in failing to adjudicate and decide the disqualification petition filed by the petitioner under Rule 6 of the Madhya Pradesh Vidhansabha Sadasya (Dal Parivartan Ke Adhar Par Nirharta) Niyam, 1986 seeking disqualification of respondent No.4 from being a member of Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly on the ground of committing defection as per paragraph 2(1)(a) of Schedule 10 of the Constitution of India.

(2.) The grievance of the petitioner is that respondent No.4 had contested the Madhya Pradesh State Assembly Elections, 2023 from constituency No.35, Bina as an approved candidate of Indian National Congress and was elected as returned candidate from the said constituency. After being elected as Member of Assembly, respondent No.4 has voluntarily given up her membership from the Indian National Congress and has joined Bhartiya Janta Party which amounts to defection as provided under paragraph No.2(1)(a) of Schedule 10 of the Constitution of India hence she is liable to be declared as disqualified from continuing as a Member of Assembly in light of Article 191(2) of the Constitution of India. The petitioner has filed a petition before respondent No.2 for declaring respondent No.4 as disqualified from being Member of the Assembly but respondent No.2 has kept the said disqualification petition in abeyance and has not taken any decision thereon.

(3.) The respondents have filed applications bearing I.A. No.2096/2025 and I.A. No.2393/2025 raising preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petition on the ground of lack of territorial jurisdiction of this bench submitting that the office of Speaker of the Legislative Assembly is situated at Bhopal. Respondent No.4 is a Member of Legislative Assembly from Bina, District Sagar. No cause of action has arisen within the territorial jurisdiction of this Bench. Only for the reason that the petitioner is a resident of District Dhar and is residing within the territorial jurisdiction of this Bench, it would not confer jurisdiction upon this Bench to entertain this petition. Reliance has been placed by the learned counsel for the respondents on the decisions of the Apex Court in Oil and Natural Gas Commission Vs. Utpal Kumar Basu and Others 1994 (4) SCC 711, Union of India and Others Vs. Adani Exports Ltd. and Another 2002 (1) SCC 567, Kusum Ignots and ALLoys Ltd. Vs. Union of India and Another and State of Goa Vs. Summit Online Trade Solutions Private 2023 (7) SCC 791 and of this Court in Amit Singh Tomar Vs. Union of India and Others W.P. No.19795/2024 decided on 24/7/2024, and Rajendra Singh Bhadoriya Vs. Union of India and Others 2019 SCC Online MP 6110.