Karnataka Assembly disqualifies 16 MLAs

Sixteen rebel MLAs, including eleven from ruling BJP, were disqualified by Karnataka Speaker ahead of the crucial trust vote in the Assembly on Monday. Speaker K G Bopaiah signed the disqualification order on Sunday night after firing a strong missive to Governor H R Bhardwaj contesting his directive to him not to change the configuration of the House and maintain status quo on its strength as on October six, Assembly secretariat sources said. The rebel MLAs had withdrawn support to the government on 6th October.
In his order, Bopaiah said these 16 MLAs have been disqualified under the provision of the anti-defection law as envisaged in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution. Those BJP MLAs who were disqualified are:
Balachandra Jarkiholi, Belur Gopala Krishna, Anand Asnotikar, Dr Sarvabowma Bagali, V Nagaraju, Raje Kage, Y Sampangi, Nanjundaswamy, S K Bellubbi, H S Shankara Lingegowda and Shivanagouda Naik. Former ministers Venkataramanappa, Shivaraj Tangadagi, Goolihatti Sekhar and M P Narendraswamy and independent MLAs have also been disqualified.
With this action, Bopaiah has brought down the strength in the 224-member Assembly to 208.