Big relief for Sachin Pilot as Rajasthan HC orders status quo on disqualification notices

The Rajasthan High Court on Friday directed that status quo be maintained in the disqualification notices to dissident MLAs, effectively barring the Speaker from proceeding against the camp led by Sachin Pilot.

The high court bench led by Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty said it would prefer to wait for a top court ruling on Speaker CP Joshi's plea against any judicial intervention in the disqualification proceedings before they pass any final order.

The high court deferred its own verdict - it was expected Friday - on the rebels plea for relief, thus effectively ceding space to the top court to take a call.


Earlier in the morning the high court also admitted a petition filed by the 19 dissident Congress MLAs to include the Union government in the list of respondents to their petition.

This comes a day after the Supreme Court refused to restrain the high court from deciding on whether the Speaker can initiate disqualification proceedings against the rebels, but said it would be subject to its final verdict on whether the court was infringing on the Constitutional right of the Assembly chair. The ape court is scheduled to resume hearing the matter on Monday.

The focus now shifts to how quickly CM Ashok Gehlot gets to convene the House and seeks a trust vote, thus denying Pilot & Co more time to convince other ruling party MLAs to join the rebels.

Pilot was sacked as the deputy chief minister and the president of the Congress in Rajasthan after he rebelled against CM Ashok Gehlot.