Himachal Congress MLAs, Who Cross-Voted In Rajya Sabha Polls, Disqualified

Six Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh who cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election have been disqualified from the assembly, the Speaker announced today.

The BJP had clapped for and congratulated the six MLAs for their 'bravery' yesterday when they came to the assembly, after staying the previous night in BJP-ruled Haryana. Their kick, however, has gone wide.

The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.

Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania today said they have been disqualified for defying the party whip to vote in favour of the government on the Finance Bill in the house yesterday. The assembly passed the state Budget after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs.

The actions of the six MLAs violated the anti-defection law, the Speaker said.

For now, the MLAs' disqualification has closed the chapter for the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh after a two-day scare over the BJP returning to power with a no-trust vote, since the six MLAs had voted for the state's Opposition party in the Rajya Sabha election.

The BJP had deduced the six Congress MLAs no longer trusted the ruling party.

Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra yesterday questioned whether the BJP, with just 25 MLAs, was working overtime to overthrow the Himachal Pradesh government.

Minus the six disqualified MLAs, the Congress now has 34 MLAs in the 62-member house. Three independent MLAs who supported the Congress also cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election.

"In democracy, the public has the right to choose the government of their choice. The people of Himachal Pradesh used this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But BJP wants to crush this right of the people by misusing money power, power of agencies and power of the Centre," Priyanka Gandhi said in a post on the microblogging platform X in Hindi.