Supreme Court upholds nomination of 3 Puducherry MLAs by Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi

The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the decision of Puducherry Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi to nominate three MLAs to the Assembly. The top court said, "The L-G has the power to nominate". The case dates back to 2017, when Kiran Bedi ran into a tiff with Chief Minister V Narayansamy's governement by nominating three Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-affiliated persons as MLAs. The Congress had challenged the decision of L-G to nominate MLAs saying she should have consulted the ruling party before the nomination of MLAs. But Bedi had said that the nominations were valid according to the Union Territories Act.

The Madras High Court had in March upheld the nominations and then the Supreme Court was moved. The nominated MLAs are V Swaminathan, K G Shankar and S Selvaganapthy. In its earlier hearing, the Supreme Court refused to stay the Madras High Court order, and said the MLAs should be allowed to attend the House.

Supreme Court upholds decision of Puducherry LG Kiran Bedi to nominate three MLAs to the Assembly. SC says,"LG has the power to nominate". Congress had challenged the decision of LG to nominate MLAs saying LG should have consulted the ruling party before nomination of MLAs. pic.twitter.com/SxLIh7FE4E

— ANI (@ANI) December 6, 2018

Speaking to ANI, Bedi had earlier said, "It's been brought to our notice that three nominated BJP MLAs have been obstructed from coming into the assembly despite clear orders of the Madras High Court. I am calling for a report from the Chief Secretary and will take the required follow-up action." Bedi had received lots of flak for this move but always maintained that she had acted according to the law and that there was “no conflict” in this decision.