Speaker meets Singhar on Nirmala Sapre defection case

Bhopal: Six days ahead of the state budget session, Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar on Tuesday met LOP Umang Singhar to hear the case of Congress MLA from Bina assembly constituency Nirmala Sapre and her alleged defection from the party. Congress had demanded that her membership from the assembly be annulled after she defected to the BJP on May 5, 2024 during the Lok Sabha elections. The BJP has not yet provided her party membership though she keeps visiting the party office. No action was initiated against her even as she technically continued being a Congress MLA. The LOP then filed a petition before the MP high court. The case was heard by the double bench of Chief Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva and Justice Vinay Saraf. The state govt told the court that the matter is pending before the Speaker and action will be initiated. After the meeting with Tomar, Singhar said, "Supreme Court has asked the state assembly on action initiated in the matter. The reply by the assembly was that action is being taken. But there are several rulings of the Supreme Court that a decision has to be taken by the assembly within 90 days. So the Speaker is calling all persons related to the issue and hearing them out." "How Nirmala Sapre had joined the BJP on a dais during the Lok Sabha elections has been presented to the Speaker with evidence," he added. Singhar said he is expecting action against Nirmala Sapre soon and alleged that it has been the BJP's strategy to not give membership to a rival party's MLA and yet claim that the legislator is with them. "The BJP is concerned and does not want to go for bypoll in Bina. They know that if they go for a bypoll in Bina, they will lose their seat to the Congress. I am hoping that the Speaker will listen to all the parties and take appropriate action in the next seven to eight days," Singhar added. First-time MLA Nirmala Sapre was one of the three legislators from the Congress who defected to the BJP during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the two others being Kamlesh Shah from Amarwara seat in Chhindwara and Ram Niwas Rawat from Vijaypur assembly segment. But while Shah and Rawat were given BJP membership and their assembly seats went for bypoll. Sapre had contested the assembly election from the Bina SC reserved constituency in 2023 on a Congress ticket and won. But in May 2024, she left the Congress' campaign and joined BJP during a public meeting before chief minister Mohan Yadav in Rahatgarh. She campaigned for the BJP's candidate for Sagar Lok Sabha constituency.