The Gujarat High Court on Monday sought a reply from assembly speaker Rajendra Trivedi and MLA Alpesh Thakor by June 27 after a petition questioning the delay by Trivedi in expelling Thakor as a member of the legislative assembly came up for hearing. The division bench of Justice SR Brahmbhatt and Justice AP Thaker issued notice to the duo during the hearing of the petition filed by Congress chief whip in the state assembly Ashwin Kotwal. Notably, the Congress has requested the court to direct the speaker to decide the application filed by it on April 25 for Thakor's disqualification at the earliest. It has also requested the court to restrain Thakor from acting as an MLA of Radhanpur constituency till the matter is pending before the court. The Congress has contended before the court that Thakor ought to have been disqualified by the speaker, especially after the party moved an application under Schedule X of the Constitution. Kotwal, through advocate Hriday Buch, has argued that Thakor should have been disqualified as he had voluntarily given up his membership of Congress upon his resignation dated April 10. Kotwal has argued that Thakor ought to have been disqualified and his seat should have been declared vacant post his resignation as per the norms. The petitioner also argued that he had made an application for the disqualification of Thakor to the speaker on April 25, but even as almost two months have passed, Trivedi has not decided on the application. The Congress leader has alleged that such an inaction is to only to help Thakor to continue his membership as he has aligned with the ruling BJP. The inaction would also mean that Thakor would be able to sit in the assembly session starting from July 1. He has also alleged that due to the inaction, Thakor will be eligible to vote as a member of the assembly in the forthcoming Rajya Sabha elections, which is scheduled on July 5. Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, Thakor had resigned on April 10 from all the posts he held in the Congress, claiming he and his Thakor community were insulted and betrayed by the party. Thakor was Congress secretary in charge of Bihar and was a member of all key party committees for the Lok Sabha polls. Though Thakor had not mentioned specifically that he was resigning as an MLA or from the primary membership of the party, Kotwal had maintained that "resignation from all the posts" also include primary membership and as an MLA. Thakor, a prominent OBC leader, was elected from Radhanpur on a Congress ticket in 2017 Assembly polls. Lowdown Thakor had resigned on April 10 from all the posts he held in the Congress, claiming he and his Thakor community were insulted and betrayed by the party. Thakor was Congress secretary in charge of Bihar

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