Rebel Himachal leaders withdraw plea from SC against disqualification
PTC News Desk: Six former Congress legislators on Friday withdrew their petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Himachal Assembly Speaker's decision.
The top court bench allowed the legislators to withdraw the plea.
On February 29, the Speaker disqualified six Congress MLAs for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections. The six MLAs who were disqualified under the anti-defection law were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma, and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.
These six MLAs are now fighting the byelections as BJP candidates.
Following the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs while the BJP had 25 in Himachal's 68-member assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independent candidates.
These dissident legislators cast cross-votes in the Rajya Sabha elections. During the recent Rajya Sabha election, the BJP, which has only 25 MLAs, received 9 more votes.
The vote resulted in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs voting for the BJP. Harsh Mahajan was declared the winner after a random drawing.
- ANI
