Gujarat HC Admits Congress’ Petition on Alpesh Thakor’s Expulsion

Congress demanded that till the Speaker decides, Thakor shouldn’t be allowed to exercise his rights as a legislator.

Alpesh Thakor

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@AlpeshThakor_)

The Gujarat High Court on Monday, June 24, admitted a petition of the state Congress which seeks a directive to Assembly Speaker Rajendra Trivedi to take an early decision on the party’s demand to expel Alpesh Thakor as an MLA.

After admitting the petition filed by Congress’ chief whip Ashwin Kotwal, a division bench of Justices SR Brahmbhatt and AP Thaker issued notices to Trivedi and Thakor, and scheduled the further hearing on 27 June.

In the petition, the Congress also demanded that till the Speaker makes his final call, Thakor must not be allowed to exercise his rights as a legislator.

The petition stated that though the Congress, through an application in April, had urged Trivedi to expel Thakor as an MLA, no decision had been taken by the Speaker, compelling the party to approach the High Court.

‘Alpesh Involved in Anti-Party Activities’

On 25 April, Gujarat Congress leaders led by Kotwal had approached Trivedi seeking expulsion of Thakor as a legislator claiming that he was no longer with the party and that he was involved in "anti-party activities" during the Lok Sabha polls.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Thakor had resigned on 10 April from all the posts he held in the Congress, claiming him and the Thakor community had been insulted and betrayed by the party.

Thakor was Congress secretary incharge of Bihar and was a member of all key party committees for the Lok Sabha polls.

Though Thakor had not specifically mentioned that he was resigning as an MLA or from the primary membership of the party, Kotwal maintained that "resignation from all the posts" included primary membership and that of an MLA.

Thakor, a prominent OBC leader, was elected from Radhanpur on a Congress ticket in 2017 Assembly polls.

(This piece has been edited for clarity.)