Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Thursday disqualified six Congress MLAs who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls for the lone seat in the state.
They had also abstained from voting on Budget in the assembly, defying a party whip to vote in favour of the government on the Finance Bill. The ruling Congress had sought their disqualification on this ground.
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
Following the disqualification of the rebel legislators, the effective strength of the House has reduced from 68 to 62 while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk from 40 to 34. It is for the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh that any MLA has been disqualified under the anti-defection law aimed at checking defections.
Announcing the disqualification of the six rebel MLAs at a press conference, the Speaker said they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the whip and ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect.
