Supreme Court Gives MP Assembly Speaker Two Months to Decide a Defection Case: How the Speaker's Role Works
The Supreme Court directed the Speaker of the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly to decide, within two months, a disqualification petition against Nirmala Sapre, the MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) from Bina in Sagar district.
She was elected in the 2023 Assembly election on one party's ticket. In May 2024, during the Lok Sabha campaign, she appeared on another party's platform and announced she would join it. She says she has neither resigned from her original party nor formally joined the other one.
The petition, filed in July 2024 by the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, asks for her disqualification under the Tenth Schedule (the anti-defection law). It had been pending for over two years.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court had earlier refused to order a time-bound decision, saying there was no urgency because proceedings were going on before the Speaker.
The bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana disagreed. It said Tenth Schedule petitions must be decided quickly even if there is no immediate urgency or a lot of time is left in the Assembly's term. It relied on its 2025 ruling in Padi Kaushik Reddy (a Telangana case) and did not give any view on whether she is actually disqualified.
Speaker of the State Legislative Assembly
The Speaker is the person who runs the meetings of a state's Legislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha). The Speaker keeps order, decides who speaks, puts questions to vote and protects the rights of the House. The Speaker is an ordinary MLA chosen by the other MLAs, but once chosen, the Speaker is expected to be fair to all sides. The office is set up by Articles 178 to 181 of the Constitution.
The Madhya Pradesh Speaker is acting as a tribunal under the Tenth Schedule in this case. Because the petition had been pending for over two years, the Supreme Court used its power of judicial review over the Speaker's tribunal role to set a two-month deadline. This follows the line of Keisham Meghachandra Singh (2020) and Padi Kaushik Reddy (2025), which say a Speaker cannot sit on such petitions indefinitely.
Anti-Defection Law (Tenth Schedule)
The anti-defection law punishes an MP or MLA who leaves the party on whose ticket they won, or who votes against the party's direction in the House. It is in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, added by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985. A member found guilty of defection loses their seat. The Speaker (or Chairman) of the House decides such cases.
The petition says the MLA "voluntarily gave up" her party membership by announcing support for another party on its stage, which is a ground under Paragraph 2(1)(a). She denies leaving her party. Deciding this question of fact is the Speaker's job, and the Supreme Court has now told the Speaker to do it within two months.
- Court: Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana (order reported on 4 November 2026)
- Deadline: two months for the Madhya Pradesh Speaker to decide the petition
- MLA: Nirmala Sapre, Bina constituency, Sagar district, Madhya Pradesh; elected in the 2023 Assembly election
- Petition filed: July 2024; pending for over two years
- Precedent relied on: Padi Kaushik Reddy v. State of Telangana (31 July 2025)
- Tenth Schedule added by the 52nd Amendment Act, 1985; "split" exception removed by the 91st Amendment Act, 2003
- Speaker of a state Assembly: Articles 178 to 181; Madhya Pradesh Assembly strength: 230 seats