Ex-MLA Arvind Ladani uses official letterhead, violates Guj assembly privilege
Updated: May 11th, 2024
Arvind Ladani, former MLA of Manavadar seat in the Gujarat Legislative Assembly is in the soup over a letter he wrote to the BJP president where he is alleged to have violated the privilege of the assembly.
Ladani resigned as a Congress MLA on March 6 this year and subsequently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. After joining the BJP, Ladani was nominated as the party’s candidate in the assembly by-election that was held with the Lok Sabha elections in Gujarat.
Ladani contested from the Manavadar seat as a BJP candidate, for which polling was held on May 7. On May 8, he wrote a letter to the BJP general secretary, state president and district president, complaining of anti-party activities by former MLA Jawahar Chavda and his son.
Ladani, forgot that in the internal letter to the BJP, , he had violated the privilege of the assembly and used the MLA’s letter pad with a national emblem though he no longer enjoys the rights of an MLA. After resigning as an MLA from the Congress, he ceased to enjoy the privilege of being an MLA.
Ladani wrote the letter on the letterhead of the Gujarat Assembly that mentions MLA 85-Manavdar.
According to an official of the Legislative Assembly, any MLA cannot use the printed letterheads as MLA once he/she resigns and if it is done, it can be termed as violation of special rights of MLAs. In this regard, the special rights committee (Visheshadikar samiti) of the assembly takes action against him for violation of rights as directed by the Speaker.
It is also in violation of State Emblems of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005, and State Emblems of India (Regulation of Use) Rules, 2007. According to the circular, the guidelines emphasize that using the national emblem for personal reasons is a violation of law and punishable. Accordingly, ex-legislators have been expressly instructed to refrain from including the national emblem in their letterheads.
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