Rajasthan Chief Whip Mahesh Joshi has moved the Supreme Court against the Rajasthan High Court's order, which directs Assembly Speaker CP Joshi to defer disqualification of sacked Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot and 18 rebel MLAs. Mahesh Joshi's plea contends the High Court's order is "unconstitutional, illegal" and against its "1992 verdict in the case of Kihoto Hollohon", which holds that the Speaker has the authority to decide the disqualification proceedings and judicial intervention in the process is "not permissible".
The Chief Whip moved the top court two days after the Speaker also filed an appeal against the High Court's July 24 order.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, who is left with a narrow majority after a revolt by his sacked deputy Sachin Pilot, hit out at the BJP today over its petition in court challenging the merger of six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs into the Congress last year. The Chief Minister accused the BJP of "double standards", reminding the party that four Rajya Sabha members of Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP) merged into it last year.
Nearly 100 Rajasthan Congress MLAs, who have been staying at a hotel near Jaipur, have been moved to Jaisalmer. The MLAs - Ashok Gehlot claims the support of 102- will be sequestered at a different location till August 14, when the Rajasthan assembly session begins.
