Himachal Pradesh: Six Congress MLAs disqualified for cross voting in Rajya Sabha polls

The defeat of the Congress candidate led to murmurs that Himachal Pradesh CM will resign too.

Rebel Congress MLAs who had cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections held recently have been disqualified, said Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania.

The six Congress MLAs along with three other independent legislators had cross voted for the BJP candidate helping the party trounce senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

“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," Pathania said.

The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.  The petition was filed by Congress MLA and parliamentary affairs Minister Harsh Wardhan Chauhan under anti-defection law.

The cross voting led to 34 votes each for both candidates leading to a draw of lots and an eventual victory for BJP's Harsh Mahajan.

Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has called a "breakfast meeting" of all Congress MLAs in Shimla. "It is an important meeting. Let's see what happens...This is an informal meeting," party MLA Ashish Butail said.