Himachal: 6 Congress MLAs Disqualified, Crisis Seems To Be Over

Six Congress MLAs, who cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election, were disqualified by the speaker from the Himachal assembly on Thursday. They have been declared disqualified under the anti-defection law. With this, Congress government, led by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, appeared to have successfully navigated the political crisis.

"Six MLAs, who contested on Congress symbol, attracted provisions of the anti-defection law against themselves...I declare that the six people cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly with immediate effect." Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathanian announced.

The Congress government, however, has managed to contain the political crisis that arose after the cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election and the revolt by a minister. The Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government passed the budget on Wednesday, and Minister Vikramaditya Singh stated that he will not press for resignation until talks with leaders conclude, giving a breather to the Congress.

The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma. 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 the Rajya Sabha polls held on Tuesday, Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi was defeated by BJP’s Harsh Mahajan through a draw of lots, after the two candidates each received 34 votes.