New Delhi:
Six Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh who voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections have been disqualified from the assembly, the Speaker announced today.
The BJP had yesterday applauded the six MLAs for their 'bravery' as they came to the meeting after staying in BJP-ruled Haryana the previous night. However, their kick went 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 by voting in favor of the government on the Finance Bill yesterday. The meeting passed the state budget after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs.
The actions of the six MLAs were in violation of the anti-defection law, the Speaker said.
For now, the disqualification of the MLAs has closed the chapter for the ruling Congress in Himachal Pradesh after a two-day scare that the BJP would return to power with a no-confidence motion as the six MLAs in the House of Representatives voted against the opposition party of the state had voted. Rajya Sabha elections.
The BJP had inferred that the six Congress MLAs no longer trusted the ruling party.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra yesterday wondered whether the BJP, with just 25 MLAs, was working overtime to topple 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 voted against the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections.
“In a democracy, the public has the right to choose the government of its choice. The people of Himachal Pradesh exercised this right and formed the Congress government with a clear majority. But the 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 microblogging platform X in Hindi.