The Supreme Court has refused to remove BJP leader KG Bopaiah as the temporary speaker of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, but restrictions on the live broadcast of the trust vote on TV channels have also been removed.
The same bench that had earlier directed the trust vote to be conducted today also said that the only agenda on the speaker’s table should be to conduct the trust vote and nothing else.
Members of Karnataka Legislative Assembly belonging to the Janata Dal Secular had approached the Supreme Court against Karnataka governor Vajubhai Vala to appoint BJP MLA KG Bopaiah as the pro tem speaker to oversee the trust vote tomorrow.
“We just wanted this trust vote to be a transparent process, and not leave any scope for doubts,” said Congress counsel Abhishek Singhvi. “Virtually all our concerns have been taken care of.”
“The governor’s counsel offered that they will allow live transmission of the proceedings,” said Abhishek Manu Singhvi. “Because of this, our related concerns have been addressed, and whatever happens will be before the peoople,” he added.
The opposition parties did not want Bopaiah to be the interim speaker as there have been incidents in which he has been hauled up by the courts for not been impartial in a previous term as the speaker.
BJP counsel Mukesh Rohatgi said the Congress’ demands to remove the BJP leader as the speaker.