HC seeks reply on plea to dismiss Yogi

Tribune News Service

Lucknow, May 24

The Allahabad High Court today asked the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh Government to respond to a plea seeking disqualification of CM Yogi Adityanath and Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya for not vacating their Lok Sabha seats.

A division Bench comprising Justices Sudhir Agrawal and Virendra Kumar passed the order on a petition filed by activist Sanjay Sharma.

Additional Solicitor General Ashok Mehta and UP Advocate General Raghvendra Singh today appeared in the court following a notice issued by the Lucknow Bench of the HC to the Attorney General on May 15. The court asked them to file a counter-affidavit so that the matter could be decided as there was no precedent of a similar nature.

Quoting the Constitution, the petition argues that a parliamentarian cannot become a minister in the state government without vacating his parliamentary seat. The petitioner has sought to set aside the appointment of Adityanath as CM and Maurya as Deputy CM or declare their parliamentary seats vacant.

While CM Yogi is a Lok Sabha MP from Gorakhpur, his deputy Maurya represents the Phulpur parliamentary constituency.