72. In this regard, the Speaker referred to the views expressed by the Constitution Bench in Kihoto Hollohan's case (supra), wherein, one of the issues which had been raised and decided was that the act of voluntarily giving up membership of a political party may be either express or implied. Even greater emphasis was laid on the decision in Ravi S. Naik's case (supra), wherein, it was observed that there was no provision in the Tenth Schedule which indicated that till a petition, signed and verified in the manner laid down in the Civil Procedure Code for verification of pleadings, was 91

made to the Chairman or Speaker of the House, he did not get jurisdiction to give a decision as to whether a Member of the House had become subject to disqualification under Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule or not.

73. The aforesaid view taken by the Speaker has to be tested in relation to the action of the concerned Members of the House and it has to be seen whether on account of such action a presumption could have been drawn that they had voluntarily given up their membership of the BJP, thereby attracting the provisions of Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule.

74. In the instant case, the Appellants had in writing informed the Governor on 6th October, 2010, that having become disillusioned with the functioning of the Government headed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa, they had chosen to withdraw support to the Government headed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa and 92

had requested the Speaker to intervene and institute the constitutional process as constitutional head of the State. The said stand was re-emphasized in their replies to the Show- Cause notices submitted by the Appellants on 9th October, 2010, wherein they had, inter alia, denied that their conduct had attracted the vice of "defection" within the scope of Paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule. In their said replies they had categorically indicated that nowhere in the letter of 6th October, 2010, had they indicated that they would not continue as Members of the Legislature Party of the BJP. On the other hand, they had reiterated that they would continue to support the BJP and any Government formed by the BJP headed by any leader, other than Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa, as Chief Minister of the State. They also reiterated that they would continue to support any Government headed by a clean and efficient person who could provide good governance to the 93

people of Karnataka according to the Constitution of India and that it was only to save the party and Government and to ensure that the State was rid of a corrupt Chief Minister, that the letter had been submitted to the Governor on 6th October, 2010.

75. At this point let us consider the contents of the letter dated 6th October, 2010, written by the Appellants to the Governor, which has been reproduced hereinbefore. The letter clearly indicates that the author thereof who had been elected as a MLA on a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket, having become disillusioned with the functioning of the Government headed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa on account of widespread corruption, nepotism, favouritism, abuse of power and misuse of Government machinery, was convinced that a situation had arisen in which the governance of the State could not be carried on in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution and that Shri 94

Yeddyurappa had forfeited the confidence of the people. The letter further indicates that it was in the interest of the State and the people of Karnataka that the author was expressing his lack of confidence in the Government headed by Shri Yeddyurappa and that he was, accordingly, withdrawing his support to the Government headed by Shri Yeddyurappa with a request to the Governor to intervene and institute the constitutional process as constitutional head of the State.

76. Although, Mr. Sorabjee was at pains to point out that the language used in the letter was similar to the language used in Article 356 of the Constitution, which, according to him, was an invitation to the Governor to take action in accordance with the said Article, the same is not as explicit as Mr. Sorabjee would have us believe. The "constitutional process", as hinted at in the said letter did not necessarily mean the 95

constitutional process of proclamation of President's rule, but could also mean the process of removal of the Chief Minister through constitutional means. On account thereof, the Bharatiya Janata Party was not necessarily deprived of a further opportunity of forming a Government after a change in the leadership of the legislature party. In fact, the same is evident from the reply given by the Appellants on 9th October, 2010, in reply to the Show-Cause notices issued to them, in which they had re-emphasized their position that they not only continued to be members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, but would also support any Government formed by the Bharatiya Janata Party headed by any leader, other than Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa, as the Chief Minister of the State. The conclusion arrived at by the Speaker does not find support from the contents of the said letter of 6th October, 2010, so as to empower the Speaker to take such a drastic step as to remove the 96

Appellants from the membership of the House.

77. The question which now arises is whether the Speaker was justified in concluding that by leaving Karnataka and going to Goa or to any other part of the country or by allegedly making statements regarding the withdrawal of support to the Government led by Shri Yeddyurappa and the formation of a new Government, the Appellants had voluntarily given up their membership of the B.J.P. and were contemplating the formation of a Government excluding the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Speaker has proceeded on the basis that the allegations must be deemed to have been proved, even in the absence of any corroborative evidence, simply because the same had not been denied by the Appellants. The Speaker apparently did not take into consideration the rule of evidence that a person making an allegation has to prove the same with supporting evidence and the mere fact that the 97

allegation was not denied, did not amount to the same having been proved on account of the silence of the person against whom such allegations are made. Except for the affidavit filed by Shri K.S. Eswarappa, State President of the B.J.P., and the statements of two of the thirteen MLAs, who had been joined in the Disqualification Application, there is nothing on record in support of the allegations which had been made therein. Significantly, the said affidavits had not been served on the Appellants. Since Shri K.S. Eswarappa was not a party to the proceedings, the Speaker should have caused service of copies of the same on the Appellants to enable them to meet the allegations made therein. In our view, not only did the Speaker's action amount to denial of the principles of natural justice to the Appellants, but it also reveals a partisan trait in the Speaker's approach in disposing of the Disqualification Application filed by Shri B.S. 98

Yeddyurappa. If the Speaker wished to rely on the statements of a third party which were adverse to the Appellants' interests, it was obligatory on his part to have given the Appellants an opportunity of questioning the deponent as to the veracity of the statements made in the affidavit. This conduct on the part of the Speaker is also indicative of the "hot haste" with which the Speaker disposed of the Disqualification Petition as complained of by the Appellants. The question does, therefore, arise as to why the Speaker did not send copies of the affidavit affirmed and filed by Shri Eswarappa as also the affidavits of the two MLAs, who had originally withdrawn support to the Government led by Shri Yeddyurappa, but were later allowed to retract their statements, to the Appellants. Given an opportunity to deal with the said affidavits, the Appellants could have raised the question as to why the said two MLAs, Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, were treated differently on 99

account of their having withdrawn the letters which they had addressed to the Governor, while, on the other hand, disqualifying the Appellants who had written identical letters to the Governor, upon holding that they had ceased to be members of the Bharatiya Janata Party, notwithstanding the Show- Cause notices issued to them. The explanation given as to why notices to show cause had been issued to the Appellants under Rule 7 of the Disqualification Rules, giving the Appellants only three days' time to respond to the same, despite the stipulated time of seven days or more indicated in Rule 7(3) itself, is not very convincing. There was no compulsion on the Speaker to decide the Disqualification Application filed by Shri Yeddyurappa in such a great hurry within the time specified by the Governor to the Speaker to conduct a Vote of Confidence in the Government headed by Shri Yeddyurappa. It would appear that such a course of action was adopted by the Speaker on 10th 100

October, 2010, since the Vote of Confidence on the Floor of the House was slated for 12th October, 2010. The element of hot haste is also evident in the action of the Speaker in this regard as well.

78. In arriving at the conclusion that by such short notice, no prejudice has been caused to the Appellants, since they had filed their detailed replies to the Show-Cause notices, the Speaker had relied on the two decisions of this Court, referred to hereinbefore in Dr. Mahachandra Prasad Singh's case and Ravi S. Naik's case, wherein it had been held that the 1986 Rules were directory and not mandatory in nature, and, as a result, the order dated 10th October, 2010, could not be set aside only on the ground of departure therefrom. Even if less than seven days' time is given to reply to the Show-Cause notice, the legislator must not be prejudiced or precluded from giving an effective reply to such notice.

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79. One of the questions which was raised and answered in Dr. Mahachandra Prasad Singh's case was the nature and effect of non-compliance with the provisions of Rules 6 and 7 of the Disqualification Rules, 1994. It was held therein by a Bench of Three Judges of this Court that the said provisions were directory and not mandatory and the omission to file an affidavit neither rendered the petition invalid nor did it affect the assumption of jurisdiction by the Chairman to initiate proceedings to determine the question of disqualification of a Member of the House. In the facts of the said case it was held that the 1994 Rules being subordinate legislation, they were directory and not mandatory as they could not curtail the content and scope of the substantive provision under which they were made. However, the facts of this case differ significantly from the facts in Mahachandra's case (supra).

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80. In Mahachandra's case, a member of the Indian National Congress, who had been elected as a Member of the Legislative Council on the ticket of the Indian National Congress, contested a Parliamentary election as an independent candidate, which facts were part of official records and not merely hearsay, as in the present case. In the aforesaid circumstances, the Chairman held that by contesting as an Independent Candidate, the said Member had given up his membership of the Indian National Congress. It is in that context that it was held that since the Member had not disputed the allegations, but had, in fact, admitted the same in his writ petition, he had not suffered any prejudice in not being provided with a copy of the letter from the leader of the Indian National Congress on which reliance had been placed by the Chairman. The distinguishing feature of the facts of Mahachandra Prasad Singh's case and this case is 103

that the facts in the former case were admitted and were part of the official records, while in this case the allegations are highly disputed and are in the realms of allegation which were yet to be proved with corroborating evidence, though according to the Speaker, such allegations were not disputed.

81. As far as the decision in Ravi S. Naik's case (supra) is concerned, the facts of the said case are somewhat different from the facts of this case. What is commonly known and referred to as Ravi S. Naik's case is, in fact, a decision in respect of the two Civil Appeals, namely, Civil Appeal No.2904 of 1993 filed by Ravi S. Naik and Civil Appeal No.3309 of 1993 filed by Shri Sanjay Bandekar and Shri Ratnakar Chopdekar. There is a certain degree of similarity between the facts of the latter appeal and this case. At the relevant time, the Congress (I) initially formed the Government with 104

the support of one independent member. Subsequently, seven members of the Congress (I) left the party and formed the Goan People's Party and formed a coalition government with the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party under the banner of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF). The said government was also short-lived and ultimately President's Rule was imposed in the State and the Legislative Assembly was suspended on 14th December, 1990. Prior to proclamation of President's Rule, Shri Ramakant Khalap, who was the leader of the Progressive Democratic Front, staked his claim to form a Government, but no further action was taken on such claim since the Assembly was suspended on 14th December, 1990. However, Shri Ramakant Khalap filed a petition before the Speaker under Article 191(2) read with paragraphs 2(1)(a) and 2(1)(b) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution for disqualification of two Members, who had joined the Congress Democratic Front inspite of being Members 105

of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. By his order dated 13th December, 1990, the Speaker disqualified the said two Members from the House on the ground of defection.

82. On 25th January, 1991, President's Rule was revoked and Shri Ravi S. Naik was sworn in as Chief Minister of Goa. On the same day, one Dr. Kashinath G. Jhalmi, belonging to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party, filed a petition before the Speaker for Shri Naik's disqualification on the ground of defection. Simultaneously with the above, the Speaker, Shri Sirsat, was removed from the Office and was replaced by the Deputy Speaker who began to function as Speaker in his place. Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar filed an application before the Deputy Speaker for review of the order dated 13th December, 1990, by which they had been disqualified from the membership of the House. The same was allowed by the Deputy Speaker by his order dated 7th 106

March, 1991, and the earlier order dated 13th December, 1990, was set aside. Similarly, Shri Ravi Naik also filed an application for review of the order dated 15th February, 1991, which was allowed by the Deputy Speaker by his order of 8th March, 1991. The said two orders passed by the Deputy Speaker were challenged by way of Writ Petitions which were allowed and the orders passed by the Deputy Speaker on 7th and 8th March, 1991, were held to be void. Consequently, the Writ Petitions filed by Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar and by Shri Ravi S. Naik stood revived with a direction for disposal of the same on merits. The Writ Petitions were ultimately dismissed against which two appeals were filed.

83. It was in the appeal filed by Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar that the issue of voluntary resignation from membership of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party fell for consideration of the High 107

Court, while in Ravi S. Naik's case the question was whether a valid split of the aforesaid party had been effected with Shri Naik forming a new party with seven other Members of the said party. The said question was answered in Shri Ravi Naik's favour and his appeal was allowed and the order of his disqualification from the House was set aside. The other appeal filed by Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar was dismissed and their disqualification by the Speaker was upheld. In other words, the High Court approved the proposition that it was not necessary for a Member of the House to formally tender his resignation from the party but that the same should be inferred from his conduct. It was held that a person may voluntarily give up his/her membership of a political party, even though he/she had not tendered his/her resignation from the membership of that party. However, the Division Bench of the High Court approved the said proposition in the facts and circumstances of that 108

case, where, after the Government was initially formed, there was an exodus from the principal party resulting in the formation of a new party which stood protected under paragraph 4 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. Of course, it will also have to be noted that Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar had not only accompanied Dr. Barbosa to the Governor and had informed the Governor that it did not support the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party any further, but they had also made it known to the public that they had voluntarily resigned from the membership of the said party. It is in these facts that a presumption was drawn from the conduct of the Members that they had voluntarily resigned from the membership of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party. In the said case also, after Show- Cause notices were issued, both persons filed their replies stating that they had not given up the membership of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party voluntarily or would otherwise continue to be a 109

Member of the said party and no document had been produced by the complainant nor has anything disclosed to show that they had resigned from the membership of the party. It was also denied that they had informed the Governor that they did not support the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party or that they had informed anybody that they had voluntarily resigned from the membership of said party. The Speaker, however, rejected the explanation given by Shri Bandekar and Shri Chopdekar and recorded that he was satisfied that by their conduct, actions and speech, they had voluntarily given up the membership of the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party.

84. This brings us to the next question regarding the manner in which the Disqualification Application filed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa was proceeded with and disposed of by the Speaker. On 6th October, 2010, on receipt of identical letters from the 13 BJP MLAs and the 5 independent MLAs 110

withdrawing support to the BJP Government led by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Governor on the very same day, wrote a letter to the Chief Minister, informing him of the developments regarding the withdrawal of support by 13 BJP MLAs and 5 independent MLAs and requesting him to prove his majority in the Assembly on or before 12th October, 2010 by 5.00 p.m. The Speaker was also requested accordingly. On the very same day, Shri Yeddyurappa, as the leader of the Bharatiya Janata Legislative Party in the Legislative Assembly, filed an application before the Speaker under Rule 6 of the Disqualification Rules, 1986, being Disqualification Application No.1 of 2010, for a declaration that all the thirteen MLAs elected on BJP tickets along with two other MLAs had incurred disqualification in view of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution. Immediately thereafter, on 7th October, 2010, the Speaker issued Show-Cause notices to the aforesaid MLAs informing them of the 111

Disqualification Application filed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa and informing them that by submitting letters to the Governor withdrawing support to the Government led by Shri Yeddyurappa, they had violated paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution and were, therefore, disqualified from continuing as Members of the House. The Appellants were given time till 5.00 p.m. on 10th October, 2010, to submit their objection, if any, to the said application. Even if as held by this Court in Mahachandra Prasad Singh's case (supra), Rules 6 and 7 of the Disqualification Rules are taken as directory and not mandatory, the Appellants were still required to be given a proper opportunity of meeting the allegations mentioned in the Show-Cause notices. The fact that the Appellants had not been served with notices directly, but that the same were pasted on the outer doors of their quarters in the MLA complex and that too without copies of the various 112

documents relied upon by Shri Yeddyurappa, giving them three days' time to reply to the said notices justifies the Appellants' contention that they had not been given sufficient time to give an effective reply to the Show-Cause notices. Furthermore, the Appellants were not served with copies of the affidavit filed by Shri K.S. Eswarappa, although, the Speaker relied heavily on the contents thereof in arriving at the conclusion that the Appellants stood disqualified under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.

85. Likewise, the Appellants were also not supplied with the copies of the affidavits filed by Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, whereby they retracted the statements which they had made in their letters submitted to the Governor on 6th October, 2010. The Speaker not only relied upon the contents of the said affidavits, but also dismissed the Disqualification Application against 113

them on the basis of such retraction, after having held in the case of the Appellants that the provisions of paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution were attracted immediately upon their intention to withdraw their support to the Government led by Shri Yeddyurappa. The Speaker ignored the claim of the Appellants to be given reasonable time to respond to the Show- Cause notices and also to the documents which were handed over to the learned Advocates of the Appellants at the time of hearing of the Disqualification Application. Incidentally, a further incidence of partisan behaviour on the part of the Speaker will be evident from the fact that not only were the Appellants not given an adequate opportunity to deal with the contents of the affidavits affirmed by Shri K.S. Eswarappa, Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, but the time given to submit the Show-Cause on 10th October, 2010, was preponed from 5.00 p.m. to 3.00 p.m., 114

making it even more difficult for the Appellants to respond to the Show-Cause notices in a meaningful manner. The explanation given by the Speaker that the Appellants had filed detailed replies to the Show-Cause notices does not stand up to the test of fairness when one takes into consideration the fact that various allegations had been made in the three affidavits filed by Shri K.S. Eswarappa, Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, which could only be answered by the Appellants themselves and not by their learned Advocates.

86. The procedure adopted by the Speaker seems to indicate that he was trying to meet the time schedule set by the Governor for the trial of strength in the Assembly and to ensure that the Appellants and the other independent MLAs stood disqualified prior to the date on which the Floor Test was to be held. Having concluded the hearing on 10th October, 2010, by 5.00 p.m., the Speaker 115

passed a detailed order in which various judgments, both of Indian Courts and foreign Courts, and principles of law from various authorities were referred to, on the same day, holding that the Appellants had voluntarily given up their membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party by their acts and conduct which attracted the provisions of paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, whereunder they stood disqualified. The Vote of Confidence took place on 11th October, 2010, in which the disqualified members could not participate and, in their absence Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa was able to prove his majority in the House.

87. Unless it was to ensure that the Trust Vote did not go against the Chief Minister, there was no conceivable reason for the Speaker to have taken up the Disqualification Application in such a great hurry. Although, in Mahachandra Prasad Singh's 116

case (supra) and in Ravi S. Naik's case (supra), this Court had held that the Disqualification Rules were only directory and not mandatory and that violation thereof amounted to only procedural irregularities and not violation of a constitutional mandate, it was also observed in Ravi S. Naik's case (supra) that such an irregularity should not be such so as to prejudice any authority who is affected aversely by such breach. In the instant case, it was a matter of survival as far as the Appellants were concerned. In such circumstances, they deserved a better opportunity of meeting the allegations made against them, particularly when except for the newspaper cuttings said to have been filed by Shri Yeddyurappa along with the Disqualification Application, there was no other evidence at all available against the Appellants.

88. We are quite alive to the decision in Jagjit Singh's case (supra), where it was held that 117

failure to provide documents relied upon by the Speaker to the concerned Member, whose membership of the House was in question, and denying him the right of cross-examination, did not amount to denial of natural justice and did not vitiate the proceedings. However, a rider was added to the said observation to the effect that the Speaker's decision in such a situation would have to be examined on a case-to-case basis. In Jagjit Singh's case (supra), video recordings of TV interviews, participation in the meeting of the Congress Legislative Party in the premises of the Assembly, the signatures on the register maintained by the Congress Legislative Party, were produced before the Speaker, who decided the matter on the basis thereof. That is not so in the present case. As mentioned hereinbefore, the Disqualification Application filed by Shri Yeddyurappa contained only bald allegations, which were not corroborated by any direct evidence. The 118

application did not even mention the provision under which the same had been made. By allowing Shri K.S. Eswarappa, who was not even a party to the proceedings, and Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak to file their respective affidavits, the short-comings in the Disqualification Application were allowed to be made up. The Speaker, however, relied on the same to ultimately declare that the Appellants stood disqualified from the membership of the House, without even serving copies of the same on the Appellants, but on their learned Advocates, just before the hearing was to be conducted. If one were to take a realistic view of the matter, it was next to impossible to deal with the allegations at such short notice. In the circumstances, we cannot but hold that the conduct of the proceedings by the Speaker and the decision given by the Speaker on the basis thereof did not meet even the parameters laid down in Jagjit Singh's case (supra).

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89. We cannot also lose sight of the fact that although the same allegations, as were made against the Appellants by Shri Yeddyurappa, were also made against Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, their retraction was accepted by the Speaker, despite the view expressed by him that upon submitting the letter withdrawing support to the BJP Government led by Shri Yeddyurappa, all the MLAs stood immediately disqualified under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, and they were, accordingly, permitted to participate in the Confidence Vote for reasons which are not required to be spelt out.

90. On the question of justiceability of the Speaker's order on account of the expression of finality in paragraph 6 of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, it has now been well-settled that such finality did not include the powers of the superior Courts under Articles 32, 226 and 136 of 120

the Constitution to judicially review the order of the Speaker. Under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule, the Speaker functions in a quasi-judicial capacity, which makes an order passed by him in such capacity, subject to judicial review. The scope of paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution, therefore, enables the Speaker in a quasi-judicial capacity to declare that a Member of the House stands disqualified for the reasons mentioned in paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution.

91. Having considered all the different aspects of the matter and having examined the various questions which have been raised, we are constrained to hold that the proceedings conducted by the Speaker on the Disqualification Application filed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa do not meet the twin tests of natural justice and fair play. The Speaker, in our view, proceeded in the matter as if 121

he was required to meet the deadline set by the Governor, irrespective of whether, in the process, he was ignoring the constitutional norms set out in the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution and the Disqualification Rules, 1986, and in contravention of the basic principles that go hand-in-hand with the concept of a fair hearing.

92. As we have earlier indicated, even if the Disqualification Rules were only directory in nature, even then sufficient opportunity should have been given to the Appellants to meet the allegations levelled against them. The fact that the Show-Cause notices were issued within the time fixed by the Governor for holding the Trust Vote, may explain service of the Show-Cause notices by affixation at the official residence of the Appellants, though without the documents submitted by Shri Yeddyurappa along with his application, but it is hard to explain as to how the affidavits, 122

affirmed by Shri K.S. Eswarappa, Shri M.P. Renukacharya and Shri Narasimha Nayak, were served on the learned Advocates appearing for the Appellants only on the date of hearing and that too just before the hearing was to commence. Extraneous considerations are writ large on the face of the order of the Speaker and the same has to be set aside.

93. Incidentally, in paragraph 5 of the Tenth Schedule, which was introduced into the Constitution by the Fifty-second Amendment Act, 1985, to deal with the immorality of defection and Floor crossing during the tenure of a legislator, it has been indicated that notwithstanding anything contained in the said Schedule, a person who has been elected to the office of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the House of the People or the Deputy Chairman of the Council of States or the Chairman or the Deputy Chairman of the Legislative 123

Council of the State or the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of a State, shall not be disqualified under the Schedule if he by reason of his election to such office, voluntarily gives up the membership of the political party to which he belonged immediately before such election, and does not, so long as he continues to hold such office thereafter, rejoin that political party or become a member of another political party. The object behind the said paragraph is to ensure that the Speaker, while holding office, acts absolutely impartially, without any leaning towards any party, including the party from which he was elected to the House.

94. The Appeals are, therefore, allowed. The order of the Speaker dated 10th October, 2010, disqualifying the Appellants from the membership of the House under paragraph 2(1)(a) of the Tenth Schedule to the Constitution is set aside along 124

with the majority judgment delivered in Writ Petition (Civil) No.32660-32670 of 2010, and the portions of the judgment delivered by Justice N. Kumar concurring with the views expressed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice, upholding the decision of the Speaker on the Disqualification Application No.1 of 2010 filed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa. Consequently, the Disqualification Application filed by Shri B.S. Yeddyurappa is dismissed.

95. There will be no order as to costs.

................................................J. (ALTAMAS KABIR)
................................................J. (CYRIAC JOSEPH)

New Delhi,: 13.05.2011.