Bengaluru, Nov 12 (UNI) The fate of as many as 17 MLAs would be decided by the Supreme Court, when it pronounce the reserved judgement on the question of disqualification of Congress and JD(S) MLAs in Karnataka by its Speaker.

The Supreme Court bench chaired by Justice Ramana which had heard the disqualification case will pronounce its decision on Wednesday.

It may be recalled that as many as 14 Congress and three JD(S) MLAs, who had quit their Assembly seats in July this year and paved the BJP to form the government in Karnataka were disqualified by the then Assembly speaker Ramesh Kumar upon a petition submitted by the Congress as well as JD(S) parties.

If the Supreme Court, had quashed the decision of the Assembly speaker, the MLAs, who had quit their seats can contest in the December 5 Assembly By-elections for which the process of filing nominations had already began.

Prominent among those who were disqualified by the Karnataka Speaker, are former ministers Ramesh Jarakiholi, M T B Nagaraj, H Vishwanath, R Shankar, Anand Singh, Bhyrathi Basavaraj, Gopalaiah, B C Patil, Pratapagouda Patil, Mahesh Kumatalli, Hebbar and others.

If the Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Speaker, the disqualified are likely to bar from contesting the Assembly elections, the sources said.

The disqualified MLAs had also filed a separate petition seeking directions to the Election Commission of India, for deferring the By-elections schedule, pending disposal of their case.
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