YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had announced that he would boycott the Assembly because he is not given the Leader of the Opposition Status. Along with Jagan, his members also did not go to the Assembly.
Speaking about this boycott, CM Chandrababu Naidu said ‘చట్టం తన పని తాను చేసుకుపోతుంది’.
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What is this exactly mean? TDP Ecosystem is speculating that the YSR Congress MLAs may be disqualified on the grounds of not attending the Assembly.
But is the disqualification possible? What are the rules saying?
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There is a provision to disqualify a member for not attending the Assembly sessions.
Article 190(4) of the Constitution of India states that a member of a state’s legislature can be declared absent if they are absent from all meetings for a period of 60 days without permission.
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However, the 60-day period does not include any time when the house is adjourned for more than four consecutive days or when the house is prorogued.
YSR Congress MLAs may be disqualified using this Article but there is a catch.
On average, the Assembly proceedings happen only for 100 days in five years. Between 2019 and 2024, the Assembly functioned only for 71 days because the COVID Pandemic disrupted the proceedings for a couple of years.
So, if considering the average of 100 days in five years, this 60 days absence would come only in 2-3 years.
Even if the members attend the Assembly for one day in between, the clock will reset.
Even if they do not attend, the disqualification will not happen before three years.
The last two years will be the election mood and disqualifying means going for by-elections. That would mean many calculations. So it may not be an easy decision.
If Chandrababu wants to quicken the process, he should stretch the Assembly sessions for more days so that the 60-day period will be lapsed quickly. That is also not a decision to take for the Government.
Incidentally, if the by-elections happen and YSR Congress loses the majority of the seats, it will be a sad story.
Even if they win all of the eleven, they will be still short of the eighteen needed for the Opposition Status. That means they will have to boycott the Assembly again saying they are not given the Opposition status.
