The six Congress MLAs, who cross-voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Himachal Pradesh Rajya Sabha polls, have been disqualified from the state assembly. Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania today said the rebel lawmakers have been disqualified under the anti-defection law for defying the party whip to vote in favour of the government on the Finance Bill in the house yesterday.
“Six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of anti-defection law against themselves…I declare that the six people cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly with immediate effect,” said Pathania.
The disqualified MLAs are– Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala) and Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), both ministerial aspirants; Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Badsar); Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti); Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret); and Devender Bhutto (Kutlehar).
The political scenario in Himachal changed dramatically after the defeat of Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections due to cross-voting by nine lawmakers, including six from Congress and three Independents– who previously supported the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government.
After the cross-voting, which led to the victory of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan on the lone Rajya Sabha seat from the state, there was a question mark over the survival of the Sukhvinder Sukhu-led Congress government.
The Congress and three independent MLAs are reportedly camping at a guest house in Haryana’s Panchkula, after voting against the Congress candidate.
They attended the assembly session on Wednesday. However, they abstained from voting on the budget in the assembly.
However, the Congress government managed to pass the budget. The House passed the Finance Bill by voice vote after Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs. The Speaker then adjourned the session sine die.
With this, the Congress government managed to avert the immediate crisis, with no threat for the next three months.
In the 68-member Assembly, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 and three independent MLAs. After the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs, the strength of the House will come down to 62. The halfway mark will be 31 and the majority will be 32, just two less than Congress’ strength.
