Former Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav on Tuesday moved the Delhi High Court against his disqualification from the Rajya Sabha, ANI reported. Yadav and another party leader, Ali Anwar, were removed from the Upper House by Chairperson Venkaiah Naidu on December 4 based on a petition filed by the party.

The vice president in his order had said that Yadav had “voluntarily given up his membership of the political party, Janata Dal (United), by which he was set up as a candidate for election to the Rajya Sabha”.

Naidu later defended his decision to disqualify the MPs within three months of the JD(U)’s petition because a number such pleas remain pending for years. At the 12th annual convention of the Central Information Commission in New Delhi, he asked the commissioners to expedite their decisions in a similar manner. “Justice delayed is justice denied,” Naidu had said.

Yadav and Anwar broke away from the JD(U) after Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar in July parted from the alliance with the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal to tie up with the Bharatiya Janata Party. On September 5, JD(U) leaders RCP Singh and Sanjay Jha submitted a petition to Naidu, seeking the disqualification of the two MPs.