Odisha: Arabinda Dhali, Premananda Nayak Disqualified as MLAs
Key Points
Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik on Thursday disqualified two Members of the House, Arabinda Dhali and Premananda Nayak, under the anti-defection law.
Bhubaneswar, Apr 11: Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker Pramila Mallik on Thursday disqualified two Members of the House, Arabinda Dhali and Premananda Nayak, under the anti-defection law.
A few weeks back, Dhali and Nayak joined the Bharatiya Janata Party after quitting the Biju Janata Dal. The two had won Jayadev (Khordha) and Telkoi (Keonjhar) Assembly seats, respectively, on BJD tickets in 2019.
After they quit the party, Ruling Party Chief Whip Prashant Muduli filed a petition before the Speaker seeking disqualification of their membership in the House. Based on the petition, the Speaker served a notice to the MLAs. However, they didn't respond to the notice within the stipulated time. Finally, the speaker acted and disqualified them.
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✨It may be noted here that the BJP has already named Dhali as its candidate for the Jaydev seat for the ensuing Assembly elections. Nayak is awaiting a ticket from the saffron party.
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In his response to the disqualification notice, Dhali said he was not given a chance to keep his stand even though he busy in some hospital work. He said the Speaker's move will not affect him or his constituency.