The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the “defection” of two National People’s Party (NPP) legislators to the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) in Nagaland. Advocates A. Sharan, Amit Kumar and Avijit Mani Tripathi appeared for the NPP while Mukul Rohatgi argued for the respondents. In a release on Wednesday, NPP’s Nagaland unit president Ato Yepthomi said it had filed the petition before the Supreme Court challenging the Speaker’s March 20 order accepting the “merger” of its two legislators with the NDPP. The NPP argued that both the MLAs “incurred” disqualification by voluntarily giving up party membership and merging themselves with the NDPP. Yepthomi said the Supreme Court also issued notices to Speaker Vikho-o Yhoshu, the two MLAs and the NDPP asking why the relief sought by the NPP should not be granted.

Source: The Telegraph May 08, 2019 19:18 UTC