Daijiworld Media Network - Goa (mb)
from special correspondent

Panaji, Jan 9: A day ahead of Goa legislative assembly session, Goa speaker Pratapsingh Rane on Wednesday restored rights to vote of three legislators and re-qualified them as members of legislative assembly.

Two Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) legislators – Ramakrishna Dhavalikar and Dipak Dhavalikar – along with congress lady legislator Victoria Fernandes were eligible to vote on the floor of the house and their all rights were restored by the speaker this afternoon.

The order pronounced by speaker is an interim order.

All three legislators' rights to vote were restrained by the speaker on July 31, 2007 when state legislative assembly was in session. Two separate disqualification petitions were pending against MGP legislators and Fernanders respectively.

MGP legislators had withdrawn their support in last July along with congress legislator Fernandes in their attempt to form BJP-led Goa Democratic Alliance (GDA). The GDA experiment failed when all three legislators were restrained from voting on the floor of the house.

As the coupe against Digamber Kamat-led government was being planned, the congress legislators Agnelo Fernandes and Chandrakant Kavalekar had filed the disqualification petitions. While Fernandes had filed against Dhavalikar duo, Kavalekar moved against the congress lady legislator.

Giving a breather for three legislators, the speaker restored their rights with the cautious note that they shall not commit any act amounting to voluntarily giving membership of their political party and will vote in the house in terms of direction issued by their political party or any person or authority authorized by it.

The speaker said that Goa assembly is scheduled to meet between January 10 and conclude on January 18. Respondents (three legislators) are elected representatives and represent constituencies. The constituencies will go unrepresented if the respondents are kept out of the session.

The speaker in yet another order the same day also dismissed the petition by Congress legislator Agnelo Fernandes seeking to withdraw the disqualification petition against Dhavalikar duo.

"This disqualification petition is not an adversarial kind of litigation where petitioner may be required to lead evidence. Even if a petition withdraws disqualification petition, it will make no difference," the speaker said in his interim order.

The order further reads,``duty cast upon me to carry out the mandate of the constitution of India that is 10th schedule. I have no doubt in my mind that the constitution does not contemplate withdrawal of disqualification once disqualification question is referred, the reference has to be answered unless summarily dismissed in the term of rule 7.