In a much sought after relief for the BJP Chief Minister of Karnataka Mr BS Yeddyurappa, the full bench of the state High Court today upheld the state assembly speaker K.G. Bopaiah’s orders disqualifying the five independent MLAs for withdrawing support to the BJP government on the eve of the defeated no-confidence motion on October 11 last.

Dismissing outright the petitions filed by the five MLAs who challenged the Speaker’s orders, the court said that the order of the Chair had not violated any constitutional mandate nor were there any mala fide intentions of part of the Speaker in giving such orders.

It may be mentioned that the Speaker had disqualified 11 BJP MLAs and 5 Independent MLAs under the anti-defection law on the eve of the last year’s trust vote which was won by the Chief Minister.

The judgment comes at a time when the beleaguered chief minister was facing prosecution for allegations of corruption.  “The judgment is a booster for the morale of Yeddyurappa but still he has yet to come out of the corruption charges,” a BJP leader said.