New Delhi, Sep 8 (IANS) Three independent Jharkhand legislators Friday moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to restrain Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari from disqualifying them on grounds of defection.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Y.K. Sabharwal and Justice C.K. Thakker fixed the date of hearing for Sep 11, three days before Chief Minister Arjun Munda is to seek a trust vote in the house on Sep 14.

Stephen Marandi, Enos Ekka and Kamlesh Singh had also sought a direction to the speaker to maintain status quo with regard to the number of members in the house till the Arjun Munda government proved its majority on the floor of the house.

The Munda government is in a precarious position after Ekka and Kamlesh Singh - and two other ministers - withdrew support to his National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

In the petition, Marandi, Ekka and Kamlesh Singh also sought a direction to restrain the speaker from dealing in any manner on the adjudication proceedings on the pending disqualification applications.

The legislators wanted police protection and alleged that there was a threat to their lives. There had been instances when they were manhandled after the withdrawal of support to government.

The speaker had issued notice to the three MLAs to explain on Sep 11 why their membership should not be quashed under the anti-defection law.

"The speaker served the notice to tame us. The notices were served so Munda could win the trust vote on the floor of the house. The Munda government is in a minority and he should step down in the interest of the people of the state," Marandi said.

"We have filed the petition in the Supreme Court to prevent the speaker from disqualifying us before the trust vote," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had petitioned the speaker to disqualify the three on the ground that they had violated the constitution.

It stated that Kamlesh Singh belonged to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Enos Ekka to the Jharkhand Party (JP). Both supported the NDA after last year's assembly elections, violating their respective party whips.

And Marandi has been charged with floating the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (JVM) despite the fact that he won the election as an independent candidate.

Four rebel ministers -- Madhu Koda, Enos Ekka, Harinarayan Rai and Kamlesh Singh -- resigned Tuesday and withdrew support to the government. In the 82-member house, the Munda government now enjoys the support of 39 legislators, including one nominated member.