The fate of the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh, one of the three states the party is in power, is hanging by a thread. The cross-voting by six Congress MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls has laid bare the unease within the ruling party.
At the centre of the political crisis in Himachal Pradesh was the election for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in the state.
While Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi was supposed to sail through the polls as the party had 40 MLAs in the 68-member Himachal Assembly, it was in for a surprise as cross-voting by nine MLAs -- six from Congress and three Independents -- resulted in the victory of the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
The crisis deepened on Wednesday after the six MLAs who allegedly cross-voted in favour of the BJP left Haryana's Panchkula for an undisclosed location. A BJP government is in power in Haryana.
Moreover, senior leader and son of six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya Singh resigned as minister, alleging that the Sukhvinder Sukhu-led government had "humiliated" him and its own legislators.
The BJP pounced upon the situation to claim that Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had "lost the mandate and trust" and asked him to step down. The CM, however, dismissed the claim.
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly has 68 members, with 35 being the majority mark. In the 2022 Assembly polls, the Congress returned to power, winning 40 seats. The BJP bagged 25 seats. The Congress also claimed the support of three independent MLAs, taking its number to 43.
In the present scenario, if six Congress MLAs and the three Independents withdraw support, the Congress will be left with 34 MLAs (43-9 = 34). Thus, it will lose its majority and will fall.
However, the matter is far more complex.
The Himachal Pradesh Budget session kicked off on Wednesday and the government has to mandatorily pass the Budget. The failure of the Assembly to pass the Budget will be seen as an indication of the government's loss of majority.
Now, if the six MLAs do not follow the government whip and vote against the Budget, they will invite disqualification. In this case, the total strength of the House will come down from 68 to 62. Then, the majority mark will be 31.
As per this equation, the Congress with its 34 MLAs will easily sail through and pass the Budget.
What makes the situation interesting is the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Jai Ram Thakur, from the Assembly on Wednesday. The Speaker said the BJP MLAs were suspended for "misbehaving" with marshalls outside his office and creating ruckus inside the Assembly.
