Bhubaneswar, Aug. 1: Odisha Assembly Speaker Pradeep Amat today dismissed the petition of the BJP seeking disqualification of its Bonai MLA Bhimsen Choudhury for violating a party whip. The MLA had abstained from voting during 2010 Rajya Sabha elections that had resulted in the BJD winning all the three seats.

BJP Legislature Party secretary Karendra Majhi had moved the petition. On June 18, Orissa High Court had asked the Speaker to reconsider his decision within four weeks’ time. The Speaker had earlier dismissed Majhi’s petition.

Speaker Amat, who heard both the sides on Tuesday, today announced: “I have dismissed the petition of Majhi and Choudhury will continue as a member of the Assembly.”

BJP state unit president Jual Oram said: “The party will approach the high court against the verdict.” On the other hand, Choudhury said: “The conspiracy against me has been exposed. My stand has been vindicated. Truth has prevailed.”

In his order on February 24, 2012, the Speaker had dismissed BJP’s petition while maintaining that the “voting for the Rajya Sabha is not a proceeding of the Vidhan Sabha”. The high court had directed the Speaker to reconsider the petition and pass a final order within four weeks following a petition by the BJP. The petition had contended: “The Speaker has not applied his judicial mind independently to the facts of the case and not passed a reasoned order on his own. He has abdicated his power to the law officer and has mechanically accepted the views of him.”

Majhi had said: “The party issued written directions to all its MLAs directing them to cast their individual vote in favour of independent candidate Tara Ranjan Pattnaik. In spite of the written directions, BJP MLA from Bonai Bhimsen Choudhury voluntarily and wilfully abstained from voting in election to the Rajya Sabha.”