By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 16: In a major setback to the United Democratic Party, Assembly Speaker Thomas A. Sangma on Friday dismissed a disqualification petition filed by party president Metbah Lyngdoh against eight former UDP legislators who switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party, citing repeated procedural failures.
In his order, the Speaker held that the resubmitted petition did not meet the mandatory requirements under Rule 6 of the Members of Meghalaya Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1988. Copies of the order were sent to Lyngdoh and the eight legislators.
The petition named Kyrmen Shylla (Khliehriat), Lahkmen Rymbui (Amlarem), Mayralborn Syiem (Nongpoh), Synshar Kupar Roy Lyngdoh Thabah (Sohiong), Matthew Beyondstar Kurbah (Mawphlang), Ollan Singh Suin (Mawsynram), Balajied Kupar Synrem (Shella) and Pius Marwein (Ranikor).
On October 5, the Speaker had directed Lyngdoh to rectify the defects and file separate petitions against each legislator within 10 days. The revised petition submitted on October 14 was again found wanting.
Among the shortcomings listed were the failure to provide names and addresses of persons whose information was relied upon, non-submission of documents cited as evidence, and defects in the verification certificate.
The petition referred to public statements by BJP national leaders and media reports but did not identify the sources of that information. A printout of website headlines and links was not accepted as adequate.
Several documents claimed as annexure—public statements, official social media posts and video recordings—were missing.
The petition mentioned show-cause notices dated September 21 and suspension orders dated September 23 issued to three of the legislators, yet copies were not attached.
A pen drive said to contain video footage was referred to in the covering letter but was neither properly identified and authenticated nor accompanied by a copy for the concerned members.
The verification certificate did not clearly distinguish between facts within the petitioner’s personal knowledge, matters of record and legal submissions.
The annexure also lacked the petitioner’s authentication as true copies. The Speaker noted that several of these defects had already been pointed out on October 5 and remained uncorrected.
Invoking Rule 7(2), the Speaker dismissed the petition for non-compliance with Rule 6. He clarified that the order was limited to procedural scrutiny and did not address the merits of the allegations or the question of liability under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
While the decision provides immediate relief to the eight former UDP MLAs, for the UDP, however, it marks a significant setback in its effort to challenge their switch to the BJP through the anti-defection route.