The Lok Sabha MP from Lakshadweep – Mohammad Faizal, whose disqualification from Parliament was revoked Wednesday morning, before a Supreme Court hearing on the topic and amid a row over the Congress’ Rahul Gandhi being barred – has thanked the Speaker and officials of the Lower House for re-instating his membership but voiced his unhappiness over the delay.
Faizal was disqualified from the Lok Sabha on January 13 after a sessions court in Lakshadweep capital Kavaratti convicted him in an attempt-to-murder case and handed him a 10-year sentence.
That conviction and sentence, however, were stayed 12 days later by the Kerala High Court, but Faizal’s Lok Sabha membership remained cancelled. The Nationalist Congress Party leader then moved the Supreme Court seeking directions for his disqualification notice to be withdrawn.
“This delay in (re-instating) my membership is not appreciated. The (Lok Sabha) Secretariat took the decision of disqualifying me… the very next day my conviction was declared. At least that swiftness should have been shown for (re-instating) my membership,” Faizal told news agency ANI.
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“This (withdrawal of his disqualification) is not for me… not for Mohd Faizal. I am representing a constituency… a far-flung area and people there don’t have any other representation. Their aspirations and needs should have been thought about… but better late than never,” he said.
“Am thankful to the (Lok Sabha) secretary general… at least now they realise.”
Faizal also called for protocols regarding disqualified MPs to be re-evaluated, noting that he had not been able to participate in House sittings.
“What is the remedy? These are questions that need to be answered…” he said.
The re-instating of Faizal’s Lok Sabha membership comes amid a massive row over the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi. The Congress leader was removed after he was convicted of criminal defamation – in the ‘Modi surname’ case – by a court in prime minister Narendra Modi’s home state of Gujarat.
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Gandhi has been sentenced to the maximum of two years but this has been stayed while his legal team mounts a challenge. The court’s verdict has triggered a huge fight between an opposition that has united behind the Congress and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
