Six Congress MLAs have been disqualified by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania for defying the party whip and voting in favor of the government on the Finance Bill. The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.
Pathania, who previously held off on making a decision on the disqualification, stated that the MLAs violated the anti-defection law by going against the Congress whip, considering they were elected on the party’s tickets.
“These six MLAs are now disqualified and no longer members of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly,” the Speaker announced.
These MLAs had also voted in favor of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections and later abstained from voting on the budget in the assembly.
The Finance Bill was passed by voice vote after Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs, following which he adjourned the session sine die.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DNA staff and is published from PTI)