Tripura Legislative Assembly Spealker ratan Chakrabarty expelled IPFT MLA Brishaketu Debbarma ON Tuesday.
Brishaketu thus happened to be the second MLA to be disqualified and expelled from the House after BJP MLA Asish Das.
However, while Asish Das had been expelled following BJP’s complaint, Birshaketu himself had tendered his resignation after joining TIPRA Motha leaving his old party IPFT. His resignation was not accepted by the Speaker for some technical reasons. However, Speaker according to norms called for hearing where the MLA was supposed to attend. But he did not. On Monday Speaker called for the final hearing which also Brishaketu skipped. It was then the Speaker took the decision and told media the matter was ‘closed’.
On Wednesday the Speaker said, “after considering everything I have come to conclusion that Brishaketu Debbarma, who was elected as MLA in the 2018 Assembly polls on IPFT ticket, does not qualify to hold the position of MLA anymore under the mandate of Paragraph (2)(1)(a) of Tenth schedule of the Constitution of India”. The Speaker then added that the Election Commission would now decide whether Debbarma would be eligible to contest the next assembly elections, the Speaker said.
According to the Speaker, Brishaketu had sent his resignation letter by post in June last year but it was not accepted as he didn’t appear in person.
Interestingly, with showing Asish Das and Brishaketu Debbarma the door Speaker Ratan Chakrabarty got a distinction of being the only Speaker to have expelled two MLAs –both from the ruling dispensation within five years- that too in his only year tenure as Speaker.
