New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday asked how the Rajya Sabha chairman was made a party by former Janata Dal United president Sharad Yadav in a plea challenging his disqualification from the Upper House of Parliament.

The query was posed by Justice Vibhu Bakhru while listing the matter for Friday to hear arguments on Yadav's plea for an interim order permitting him to attend the winter session which will begin on Friday. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Yadav, said the Rajya Sabha chairman, who is the Vice-President of India, was made a party as malafides have been attributed to him in the petition against the disqualification order of December 4.

The matter was listed for Friday after additional solicitor general (ASG) Sanjay Jain, appearing for Rajya Sabha chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu, opposed the grant of any interim relief to Yadav.

The ASG said if Yadav was permitted to participate in the winter session of Parliament, it would amount to his reinstatement. Sibal contended that the Supreme Court has in the past in every similar matter permitted the legislator to participate in the session, but the person is not entitled to vote. He argued that criticising Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar's action of joining the BJP would not amount to voluntarily giving up the party's membership and contended that no evidence was led to show how his client Yadav had given up his party membership.

The court, which was initially going to issue notice in the matter and list it for hearing on December 20, thereafter said it will hear it tomorrow.

Yadav, in his plea filed through advocates Sneha Iyer and Nizam Pasha, has challenged his disqualification on several grounds, including that he was not given a hearing before the December 4 order was passed. By the December 4 order, the chairman had also disqualified Yadav's party colleague and MP, Ali Anwar. He had disqualified them by agreeing with the JDU's contention that the two had "voluntarily given up" their membership by defying the party's directives and attending events of opposition parties.

The leader of JDU in the Upper House, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, had sought their disqualification on the grounds that they had attended a rally of opposition parties in Patna in violation of its directives.Yadav had joined hands with the opposition after JDU president and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar dumped the Grand Alliance with the RJD and the Congress in Bihar and tied up with the BJP in July this year. Yadav was elected to the House last year and his term was scheduled to end in July 2022. Anwar's term was to expire early next year. Both were disqualified under the Anti- Defection Act. The plea said the order has disqualified him in an "extremely casual and callous way". "The petitioner is the Member of the Upper House of the Parliament, i.e. Rajya Sabha. His membership ought not to have been dealt with in a manner as has been done in the present case," the plea alleged. PTI