NCP leader Mohammed Faizal to move Supreme Court if Speaker Om Birla doesn't reinstate his membership

NCP leader Mohammed Faizal, disqualified as Lakshadweep MP following conviction in a criminal case by a lower court, has said that he planned to move the Supreme Court next week if there was further delay in Speaker Om Birla reinstating his membership.

"After I got a stay from the Kerala High Court, both on my conviction and sentence, I had made a formal request to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to cancel my disqualification from the House and reinstate my membership. Despite repeated requests with the Speaker, including meeting him with my leader Sharad Pawar, no notification has come so far about reinstating my membership of the Lok Sabha. I have decided to move the Supreme Court early next week if my LS membership is not restored by then," Faizal told ET.

"When lower court convicted me, I was disqualified from the Lok Sabha and very soon Election Commission announced by-elections from the LS seat. But, after the high court stayed both conviction and sentence, EC cancelled the proposed byelection to my LS seat. But Speaker is yet to restore my membership of the House. The way two constitutional offices act differently after the HC order is a matter of surprise," he said.