Shimla: The Supreme Court will on Wednesday March hear a plea by the six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs against their recent disqualification by the Speaker in the backdrop of cross-voting in the recently held Rajya Sabha elections. The suspended Congress MLAs have termed their disqualification as "illegal and unconstitutional".
Sources said that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta will represent the rebels in the Supreme Court. Abhishek Manu Singhvi will likely fight the case on behalf of the Assembly Speaker or Himachal Government.
The six MLAs Rajendra Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Devendra Bhutto, ID Lakhanpal, Chaitanya Sharma and Ravi Thakur-moved an application in the Supreme Court against the Feb 29 decision of Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania to disqualify them while calling the move ‘illegal and constitutional’.
The six Congress MLAs were disqualified by the Speaker after they cross-voted for the BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan leading to the shock defeat of Congress veteran Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections held on Feb 27. Mahajan won the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal through a draw after both the candidates 34 votes each.
Following their disqualification from the Assembly, the six Congress MLAs had moved the Himachal Pradesh High Court to challenge their disqualification. The rebel Congress MLAs not only cross-voted for the BJP candidate in the Rajya Sabha polls but also abstained from voting on the Budget in the state Assembly, defying the party whip thereby leaving the party high command all the more enraged.
After Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania's decision to disqualify six Congress MLAs, the strength of the House is now reduced to 62 MLAs as per the official site of Himachal Assembly. These include 34 MLAs of the ruling Congress, 25 from BJP and three independents. The remaining six seats are shown vacant.
All eyes are on the SC hearing on the issue.
