The Supreme Court will hear on Saturday morning an application by the Congress and the JD-S challenging Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala's decision to appoint KG Bopaiah, a relatively junior MLA, as the pro-tem Speaker.

Advocate Dev Dutt Kamat, who has filed the application, told reporters at the Supreme Court that the application was filed at 7:45 pm and has been listed to be heard by a bench of Justice AK Sikri, Justice SA Bobde and Justice Ashok Bhushan at 10:30 am on Saturday.

He said the Supreme Court has passed scriptures against Bopaiah for acting in a partisan manner and disqualifying MLAs who had earlier revolted against then Chief Ministere BS Yeddyurappa.

Bopaiah is to preside over the floor test on Saturday to ascertain whether newly-appointed Chief Minister Yeddyurappa enjoys a majority support in the assembly.

In the evening, a team of Congress leaders arrived at the Supreme Court to file the plea.

The Congress has contended that Bopaiah is not the senior-most member in the newly-elected House and as per the parliamentary convention, it is only the senior-most member in terms of number of times he has been elected to the Assembly who can be a pro-tem Speaker.

Earlier in the day, the party alleged Bopaiah's appointment was made "with the sole intent of manufacturing a majority out of minority for Yeddyurappa".

First Published:May 18, 2018 10:53 PM IST