The Supreme Court will hear a plea on Tuesday (March 12) by six rebel Congress MLAs who cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, challenging their disqualification.
Kuldeep Singh Pathania, the Speaker of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, had disqualified the six upon the Congress’ plea for “defying” the party whip, mandating their presence in the House and their vote for the budget.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta, and Prashant Kumar Mishra will hear the plea against the Speaker’s February 29 decision.
In their petition before the apex court, the rebel lawmakers have named Pathania as well as state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan as parties.
These Congress rebels, who supported BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, subsequently “abstained” from voting on the Budget. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha election due to the cross-voting.
The disqualified MLAs include Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.
Following their disqualification, the House’s effective strength decreased from 68 to 62, while the number of Congress MLAs reduced from 40 to 34.
The rebel MLAs, in their petition, have alleged a violation of the principle of natural justice, claiming they did not receive adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition.
For the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh, an MLA was disqualified under the anti-defection law aimed at curbing defections.
Announcing the disqualification of the six MLAs at a press conference on February 29, the Speaker stated they incurred disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the party whip. He ruled they ceased to be members of the House immediately.
The petition seeking their disqualification was submitted by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister to the Speaker for defying the whip that required their presence in the House and vote for the budget.
Senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, representing the rebel Congress MLAs, argued they were only served the show-cause notice, and neither the petition nor the annexure was supplied.
Jain contended that while seven days were mandatory for replying to the notice, they were not afforded any time.
Under the anti-defection law, any elected member who voluntarily gives up the membership of a political party or votes or abstains from voting in the House contrary to any directive issued by their political party is liable for disqualification.
These MLAs signed the attendance register but abstained from the House during the Budget voting, the Speaker remarked. They were served notices for defying the whip through WhatsApp and email and were summoned for the hearing.
The Assembly passed the Finance Bill by voice vote after the Speaker suspended 15 BJP MLAs.
Subsequently, the Speaker adjourned the session.
In his 30-page order, he stated that the advocate’s plea for time to reply to the notice was not entertained as “the evidence was absolutely clear”. The Speaker emphasized that delivering swift judgments was necessary in such cases to uphold the dignity of democracy and counteract the “Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram” phenomenon. The judgment had no connection with the cross-voting by these MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls, the Speaker added.