6 Himachal Congress MLAs disqualified for cross-voting in RS election
Six Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh have been disqualified by Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania for cross-voting in favor of the Bharatiya Janata Party during the Rajya Sabha election. The ousted MLAs include Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma. Their actions breached the anti-defection law, resulting in their disqualification, the speaker said.
Why does this story matter?
With the disqualification of these six MLAs, the Congress has put an end to a two-day scare over the possibility of the BJP returning to power in Himachal Pradesh. On Wednesday, BJP MLAs met the governor seeking a test of strength for the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government in the assembly. To contain the situation, the Congress later dispatched DK Shivakumar, Bhupesh Baghel, and Bhupinder Hooda to Shimla to interact with party MLAs and submit a report to president Mallikarjun Kharge.
MLAs disqualified for defying party whip on Finance Bill
Speaker Pathania said that the six MLAs were disqualified for defying the party whip to vote in favour of the government on the Finance Bill in the House on Wednesday. The petition for action was filed by Congress MLA and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Wardhan Chauhan under the anti-defection law for disqualification of the MLAs. The Congress had 40 seats in the 68-member assembly. The BJP has 25 seats, while, the independents occupy the remaining three.
Congress retains majority after disqualification of MLAs
After the disqualification of the six MLAs, the total strength of the House has come down from 68 to 62. The majority mark is now 31 and the Congress has 34 MLAs. To recall, on Wednesday, Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur, for alleged misconduct and shouting slogans in the House. The BJP dubbed the suspension a plot by the Congress to prevent its government from falling apart ahead of the budget session.
LoP hits out at Congress government
The suspension of the BJP MLAs came under severe criticism from the party. On Wednesday, Thakur said, "The BJP has 25 MLAs. The number increased to 34 after the Rajya Sabha voting. This created a danger for the government." "They had to pass the budget somehow, otherwise the government would fall. For this, they had to decrease the no. of BJP MLAs. 15 MLAs, including me, have been suspended... We were suspended to save the Congress government," he added.
What happened during Rajya Sabha polls
In Himachal Pradesh, the BJP had forced a contest for the state's single seat by nominating Harsh Mahajan to go up against Congress's Abhishek Manu Singhvi. During the polls, six Congress MLAs and three Independent MLAs cross voted in the BJP's favour; securing a win for Mahajan. After the voting, reports emerged that the six MLAs were "taken away" in a convoy of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and state police to Haryana.
