Himachal Speaker disqualifies six rebel Congress MLAs

Himachal Pradesh assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Thursday disqualified six Congress MLAs who defied the party whip to vote in favour of the government on the Finance Bill in the House.
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
Addressing reporters in Shimla, Pathania, who had reserved his verdict on the disqualification of the MLAs on Wednesday, said the legislators attracted the anti-defection law by defying the Congress whip as they were elected on the party ticket.
“These six MLAs are disqualified and cease to be members of Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly with immediate effect,” the Speaker said.
These MLAs had cross-voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections on Tuesday. Later, they abstained from voting on the budget in the assembly.
The House passed the finance Bill by voice vote after Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs.
The Speaker then adjourned the session sine die.
After the 2022 elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the House has come down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of six MLAs, the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28.
The fortunes of the Congress will now rest on its ability to keep the rest of its flock together.
Earlier on Thursday, Himachal Pradesh chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu had called a breakfast meeting of all Congress MLAs in Shimla.
Congress MLA Sudarshan Singh Bablu said, “Our government will continue under the leadership of the chief minister.”
The meeting was also attended by Congress central observers Bhupinder Singh Hooda and DK Shivakumar. The observers had met the MLAs individually on Wednesday and are expected to submit their report to the party high command later today.
The BJP has claimed the Congress had lost moral standing to be in power after losing majority in the Assembly.