THE NEWS FREEDOM
NEW DELHI, MARCH 18
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to grant a stay on the decision made by the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly speaker to disqualify six Congress MLAs who had supported the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate during the recent Rajya Sabha elections. Notably, Senior Advocate Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who was the Congress candidate for the polls and faced defeat due to the cross-voting by the petitioner-MLAs, represented the Himachal Pradesh speaker. Conversely, Senior Advocate Harish Salve appeared on behalf of the disqualified MLAs, seeking a hearing on the plea for a stay on the speaker’s decision.
The Supreme Court bench ruled that while their plea is under consideration, the rebel Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh will be barred from participating in Assembly proceedings or voting. The matter has been scheduled for listing on May 6, with the rebel MLAs granted a week to submit their rejoinder. Nominations for the vacant assembly seats are set to commence on May 7.
Six rebel members, namely Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto, were disqualified by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29. This action followed their defiance of a Congress directive to attend the House and vote in support of the Himachal Pradesh government during the cut motion and budget proceedings.