Recently, the HP High Court took action by issuing a notice to the Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha following a petition submitted by three Independent MLAs. The MLAs asserted that their resignations from the Legislative Assembly were being unreasonably withheld by the Speaker. They have urged the court to intervene and address this matter.

Furthermore, the High Court extended its notices to include the Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha and the Election Commission. Following arguments from the petitioners' counsel, a Division Bench led by Chief Justice MS Ramachandra Rao and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel instructed all parties to submit their responses by April 24th.

On March 22, Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), KL Thakur (Nalagarh), and Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), who are Independent MLAs, formally tendered their resignations from the Assembly to its Secretary. Subsequently, they personally approached Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, urging him to acknowledge their resignations. Additionally, they sought an audience with Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla to discuss the matter.

The trio of MLAs, as their resignations remain unacknowledged by the Speaker, have turned to the High Court for resolution. They've filed a petition contesting the Speaker's refusal to accept their resignations and his subsequent issuance of show-cause notices to them. Their argument revolves around the voluntary nature of their resignation submissions, asserting that coercion played no part, and thus, the Speaker should promptly accept them.

The petitioners have raised serious allegations against the Speaker, claiming that instead of accepting their resignations, he has issued them show-cause notices, demanding explanations regarding their resignation requests. They contend that this action by the Speaker is arbitrary and unjust.

Madras HC Rules Traffic Disruption Not Sufficient Grounds to Deny Political Rally Permissions

The Madras High Court recently affirmed that simply causing inconvenience to traffic and the free movement of people cannot be sufficient grounds to deny permission for political rallies.

On April 7, Justice K Murali Shankar of the Madurai bench of the Madras High Court issued an order directing the Trichy police and the Assistant Election Officer to grant permission for a 2.5-hour political rally in Tamil Nadu's Trichy to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) National President JP Nadda.

In a special Sunday hearing, the judge issued the order after BJP district secretary Rajasekaran filed a plea challenging the April 6 decision of the Assistant Election Officer of the Tiruchirapalli Lok Sabha Constituency, which had refused permission for Nadda's rally due to concerns about potential traffic disruptions.

The police and local authorities informed the Court that Nadda's rally, scheduled for April 7, might impede traffic flow in Trichy due to an ongoing temple festival. Additionally, they noted that the evenings would see increased traffic and pedestrian activity due to Ramzan festivities.

Justice Murali Shankar countered that such reasons were insufficient grounds to deny permission for the rally, emphasizing that as long as the rally remained peaceful and didn't pose a threat to law and order, it should be permitted.

The petitioner highlighted that initial concerns raised by the police regarding Nadda's security and crowd management had been addressed by the party, which adjusted its route plan to minimize inconvenience. Taking these submissions into account, the Court overturned the Assistant Election Officer's decision that had denied permission for the rally.

Advocate Niranjan S Kumar appeared for Rajasekaran, the petitioner.

Additional Advocate General R Basakaran appeared for the Assistant Election Officer, Trichy.

Additional Public Prosecutor T Senthilkumar appeared for the respondent police.

Case Title: Rajasekaran vs Assistant ELection Officer