PANAJI
The petition has prayed that Rane be restrained from holding the position of an MLA and also ministerial berths till the end of the present tenure of the Assembly.
Rane stepped down as the Valpoi MLA and quit the Congress almost two months ago on March 16 after abstaining from voting on the confidence motion moved by the BJP coalition government on the floor of the House. In doing so, he defied the party whip served on him, the receipt of which he had acknowledged by signing. Owing to his abstention, the confidence motion was passed with 22 against 16 in favour of the Manohar Parrikar-led government.
Rane then voluntarily submitted his resignation during the second half of the session, which was accepted by the speaker without much ado. “The Speaker and Vishwajit in collusion with BJP MLAs played fraud on the constitution of India… He has been conferred a ministerial berth for being dishonest to the Indian National Congress,” the petition reads.
Rane has since joined the Bharatiya Janata Party and has been sworn in as the minister for health.
Commenting on the petition, Congress legal cell chairman Ramakant Khalap stated, “We hope that the Court will grant an interim relief and issue an order before the polls are declared. The intention of the anti-defection law is to prevent an elected representative from holding the elected House to ransom.”
