A PUBLIC Interest Litigation (PIL) filed before the Bombay High Court has challenged amendments made to the procedure of the election of the speaker in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
The state government has proposed to hold the elections to the post of the speaker on March 9 and has sought the go-ahead of the Governor in the regard.
The PIL filed by lawyer Vishal Acharya has said that the amendments made to the procedure after proposed changes suggested by the rules committee to Rule 6 and Rule 7 for the election of speaker and deputy speaker respectively, are “arbitrary” and “unconstitutional”.
The plea states that the procedure of secret ballot has been replaced with a voice vote and power to notify the date of election has been transferred from the Governor to the Chief Minister, among other changes. The plea claims that this “will lead to the death of democracy” and sought for the amendments to be declared illegal. The state’s ruling MVA government had said that the amendments were proposed by the rules committee in accordance with similar rules existing in the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and legislative assemblies of a few other states.
The post of the Assembly speaker fell vacant in February last year after Nana Patole resigned from the post and became the state Congress president.
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