NEW DELHI, Nov. 5 -- The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that petitions under anti-defection law must be decided expeditiously, ruling that high courts should not decline to issue directions to assembly speakers merely because the assembly has substantial tenure remaining. Directing Madhya Pradesh assembly speaker to decide a disqualification petition against Congress MLA Nirmala Sapre within two months, the court observed that even where a HC finds no urgency in a disqualification matter, issues arising under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution must be dealt with promptly in accordance with the court's earlier judgments. A bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, was hearing a petition filed by leader of Opposition in MP assembly Umang Singhar, complaining that a petition seeking Sapre's disqualification had been pending before the speaker since June 2024. The MP high court in June this year declined to direct the speaker to expedite proceedings, citing absence of extraordinary circumstances and the fact that assembly still had two years left in its tenure. "What we find from record is that there are allegations against respondent no. 4 (MLA Nirmala Sapre) of voluntarily giving up membership of the party on whose ticket she was declared elected. On this premise, it is alleged that respondent no. 4 has incurred disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution," the bench said. "Even in a case where the court finds that there is no urgency, issues like these should be dealt with expeditiously," the SC held, adding petitions under Tenth Schedule were expected to be decided promptly in keeping with its judgments in Padi Kaushik Reddy Vs State of Telangana (2025) and Keisham Meghachandra Singh Vs Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly (2021). In Padi Kaushik Reddy judgment, the SC directed Telangana speaker to decide disqualification petitions against 10 MLAs within three months, emphasising that speakers cannot allow anti-defection proceedings to languish and must conclude them within a reasonable, time-bound period. In Keisham Meghachandra Singh v. Speaker, Manipur Legislative Assembly (2021), the court held that three months should ordinarily be the outer limit for deciding disqualification petitions under the Tenth Schedule, except in exceptional circumstances. In the present matter, the bench initially proposed a three-month deadline for the MP assembly speaker to decide the pending petition. However, after senior advocate Vivek Tankha, appearing for Singhar, requested that the period be reduced to two months, the court modified its direction accordingly....