Six rebel Congress MLAs on Tuesday approached the Supreme Court to challenge their disqualification ordered by the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker. The rebel MLAs said that the Speaker’s order is “illegal and constitutional”.
These MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker due to their absence during the budget in the Assembly.
Last week, the six rebel MLAs moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court challenging their disqualification from the state Assembly following the defeat of party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha election.
The state Assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified the rebel MLAs who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls for the only seat in the state. Additionally, they had also abstained from voting on Budget in the assembly, defying a party whip to vote for the government on the Finance Bill.
Following this, the Congress-led government managed to pass the budget. The Finance Bill was passed by voice vote after the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs by Pathania.
The ruling Congress had sought the rebel MLAs’ disqualification. The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
This was the first time in Himachal’s history that any MLA has been disqualified under the anti-defection law aimed at checking defections. These disqualified MLAs, who had voted for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls were not present in the House during voting on the Budget.
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