In Madhya Pradesh, Jyotiraditya Scindia Loyalist To Lose MLA Status

Jajpal Singh Jajji -- one of the 22 MLAs who quit the Congress with Jyotiraditya Scindia, bringing down the 15-month-old Congress government headed by Kamal Nath in March 2020 -- is likely to lose his assembly membership following an order from the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The MLA, who represents the reserved Ashok Nagar seat in the Assembly on a BJP ticket, does not belong to a Scheduled Caste, the court said. The court has asked that a police case be filed against him.  

Mr Jajji is the second MLA after former Chief Minister Uma Bharti's nephew Rahul Singh Lodhi, who is about to lose his assembly membership.On December 7, the court had set aside the 2018 election of Mr Lodhi from Khargapur (Tikamgarh), for improper filing of nomination papers.  

This morning, the court's Gwalior bench cancelled the Scheduled Caste certificate of Jajpal Singh Jajji with immediate effect, saying he has even failed to prove that he belongs to the "Nat" caste. The "Nat" caste is considered a Scheduled Caste in Punjab but not in Madhya Pradesh.

The court said that Mr Jajji's caste certificate was issued on just one document from village Khara of Amritsar's Tarn Taran district, which is "contrary to the judgments passed by the Supreme Court".  

"Even otherwise, the respondent no. 5 (Mr Jajji) could not produce any document/evidence before the High Power Caste Scrutiny Committee to show that he belongs to "Nat" in the state of Madhya Pradesh also," the court said.  

The judge ordered that Mr Jajji's caste certificate, issued by the Ashok Nagar authorities, be scrapped. The single-judge bench of Justice GS Ahluwalia also asked the Ashok Nagar police to file a case against the BJP MLA.

The order came in response to a petition by former BJP MLA Ladduram Kori, whom Mr Jajji defeated as a Congress candidate in the 2018 Assembly polls.  

In the 62-page order, the court said: "Since the respondent is a sitting MLA having been elected from Ashok Nagar Constituency, which is a constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste, therefore, the Registry of this Court is directed to immediately send a copy of this judgment to Speaker, Vidhan Sabha, State of Madhya Pradesh for necessary information and further action."

On December 7, a single judge bench of the High Court in Jabalpur had scrapped Rahul Singh Lodhi's 2018 election from Khargapur seat. Justice Nandita Dubey ordered that as the election of Mr Lodhi is being declared void, he must not be allowed any benefits of this election.

The ruling BJP has 130 members (including an Independent, an SP MLA and a BSP MLA, who joined the saffron party in June 2022) in the 230-member assembly. The opposition Congress has 96 MLAs.