Guwahati HC stays Nagaland trust vote

Guwahati: In what has given a new twist to the ongoing political crisis in Nagaland, the Kohima bench of the Guwahati high court on Friday granted a stay on Nagaland governor P.B. Acharya’s order to chief minister Shurhozelie Liezietsu to seek a trust vote by July 15.

Informing that the single judge bench granted a stay on the trust vote till Monday when the matter will come up for hearing, Nagaland chief minister’s media cell from Kohima said, “In the writ petition filed by the petitioner, Mr Shurhozelie Liezietsu before the Kohima bench of the Guwahati high court, it has been argued that the decision of the governor asking the petitioner who is also the chief minister of Nagaland to conduct a floor test on or before July 15 was “ex facie unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and violative of the basic features of the Constitution.”

Pointing out that the process of bye-elections (in which the petitioner is seeking to be elected) is already under process and that it was “imperative and incumbent upon the governor to call upon the petitioner to prove its majority on the floor of the House only pursuant to the by-elections wherein the petitioner is a candidate.

The governor by the impugned decision has virtually sought to strangulate the will of the council of ministers and have used the office of the governor to suit his political needs, the petitioner argued in his plea before the court while pointing out that there is no recommendation from the council of ministers to the governor.

The governor on his own volition chose to impose the impugned decision upon the petitioner without any legal foundation and against constitutional norms.

“The governor, without affording an opportunity to the petitioner for a free and fair election for his candidature, has hastily proceeded to reject the request made by the petitioner herein to pre-empt the already scheduled elections,” the chief minister who himself is the petitioner argued.

“It is submitted that the decision of the governor to the petitioner directing to convene an emergent session, communicated on July 13, is an ex facie unconstitutional, illegal, arbitrary and against the well-established constitutional convention of a chief minister’s duties and responsibilities to discharge his official functions under the Constitution of India, the petition filed before the Kohima bench of the Guwahati high court said.

Meanwhile, the council of ministers led by the chief minister also called on the governor on Friday and pleaded to to bring about a reconciliation amongst the legislators.

Mr Kuzholuzo Nienu, the newly elected chairman of the Democratic Alliance of Nagaland Coordination Committee, told the governor that the DAN coalition is intact and that the present crisis is only within the NPF party.

Earlier anticipating action from the governor after the completion of the deadline for the present government to seek trust vote by Saturday, thirty-six dissident MLAs of ruling ruling Naga People’s Front (NPF) on Friday left for Kohima from Kaziranga resort where they had been camping since July 8.

The court order came after the legislators reached Kohima.