Patna, Nov 1 (IANS) Bihar Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Choudhary Saturday terminated the membership of four rebel JD-U MLAs Gayanendra Singh Gayanu, Rahul Sharma, Ravinder Rai and Neeraj Bablu.

Choudhary told mediapersons here that the decision was taken on the basis of charges levelled against them by the JD-U.

The speaker took the decision after repeated hearing of their cases in the past few months.

After the action, Gayanu said that he will challenge it in the Patna High Court while Rai described the decision as the handiwork of former chief minister Nitish Kumar; Bablu termed it a murder of democracy.

All the four rebel legislators were suspended from the party for six years early this year.

Worried over the activities of rebel legislators during the Rajya Sabha by-elections in Bihar three months ago, the JD-U cracked the whip on six out of 18 MLAs, against whom a report was submitted to the party for disciplinary action and a recommendation was made to the Speaker for ending their membership.

The JD-U chief whip and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Shrawan Kumar said that notice for termination of membership was legal as it was in tune with the 10th schedule of the constitution relating to anti-defection laws.

It was the first such action taken against rebel legislators who have been challenging the party leadership since last April-May.