The 3 judge bench of the Supreme Court hearing the matter of the appointment of KG Bopiah had ordered that the floor test should be a live broadcast on all news channels.
Bench rises. Orders that let there be live telecast of the vote.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) May 19, 2018
As per latest reports, protem speaker KG Bopaiah has begun administering oaths to the elected MLAs in the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
In Vidhana Soudha, protem speaker KG Bopaiah has started administering oath to its new members of the Karnataka Assembly. Local Channels streaming it live. 5 members being administered at a time due to paucity of time. #KarnatakaFloorTest pic.twitter.com/C1WWr0I8pu
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) May 19, 2018
The Congress-JDS alliance had yesterday moved to the Supreme Court against the appointment of KG Bopaiah as the protem speaker in the Karnataka assembly to conduct the floor test. In the hearings today, Kapil Sibal, senior Congress leader and advocate represented the Congress-JDS alliance.
As per reports, the SC bench comprising Justices AK Sikri, SA Bobde and Ashok Bhushan has stated that it cannot pass an order without hearing KG Bopaiah on the matter.
Arguing on the matter, Kapil Sibal had reportedly cited the Nabal Rebia case and stated that the SC constitution bench judgement made it clear that the Governor’s discretion under Article 163 is limited and restricted. While Justice SA Bobde pointed out that there have been numerous instances in the past where the senior most member of the assembly had not been made speaker.
Justice SA Bobde points out there has been instances where the senior most member of the House wasn’t the protem speaker. Rohatgi supports this view, saying he and Sibal have once argued for a member as Protem speaker who was the junior most. @utkarsh_aanand
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 19, 2018
Kapil Sibal reportedly cited the instance where an SC bench had dismissed the decision of Bopiah as unconstitutional where he had disqualified certain members in 2010. On which Justice Bobde replied that if the Congress-JDS alliance wants to examine his suitability, the SC will have to issue a notice to him and that will mean the floor test would be postponed further.
Hearing further arguments, the bench finally ordered that the floor test should be telecast live on all channels.
