Why haven’t you moved Himachal HC against disqualification: SC

New Delhi: On Tuesday, the Supreme Court questioned the six rebel Congress MLAs, who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, asking why they hadn’t approached the high court to challenge their disqualification.

The six MLAs were disqualified by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29, following a plea from the Congress party.

The disqualification was based on allegations of defying the party’s whip, which mandated their presence in the House and support for the budget. Their plea challenging the Speaker’s decision came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra.

The counsel representing the six petitioners requested the bench to adjourn the matter for either March 15 or March 18, saying senior advocate Harish Salve, who would appear for them, was not able to join the proceedings.

When the counsel said the petitioners have explained the reasons in the petition and they were elected as MLAs, the bench observed, “That is not a fundamental right”. “It is rare case where within 18 hours, the speaker disqualified us,” the counsel said.

The bench posted the matter for hearing on March 18.

The petitioners have made Pathania, state Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan and others as party respondents in their plea filed in the top court.

These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, later “abstained” from voting on the budget. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi had lost the Rajya Sabha election owing to the cross-voting.

The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.

Following their disqualification, the effective strength of the House has gone down to 62 from 68, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk to 34 from 40.

Announcing the disqualification of the six MLAs at a press conference on February 29, the speaker had said they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law as they defied the party whip. He ruled that they ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect.

Under the anti-defection law, any elected member who gives up the membership of a political party voluntarily or votes or abstains from voting in the House, contrary to any direction issued by his political party, is liable for disqualification.