Janjivan Bureau / Shimla : Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Pathania on Thursday disqualified the six rebel Congress MLAs from the membership of the Assembly under the anti-defection law.
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
Addressing the media, Pathania said they had defied the whip and attracted the provisions of the anti-defection law as they were not in the House when the Finance Bill was passed.
“I hold that the respondents have incurred this disqualification under the10th Schedule. I declare that all six cease to be MLAs of the Himachal Legislative Assembly with immediate effect,” he said.
Pathania said the six MLAs defied the party whip by not being present in the Assembly during the voting on cut motion and the passing of the budget. The petition against the six MLAs was filed on the basis of a complaint by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan on behalf of the Congress.
“Their conduct is unethical as all six have defied the whip which attracts the provisions of the anti-defection law for their disqualification,” said Pathania. “I have to see whether politics of aaya-gaya and horse-trading is being indulged in as it is against the spirit of the anti-defection law to indulge in such practices, he added.
He said these MLAs contested from the Congress and as per the provisions of the anti-defection law, they stand disqualified. “I gave exhaustive hearing to the lawyers of these MLAs and they took more than two hours and produced the entire record,” he said.
“In my capacity as chairman of the tribunal under the anti-defection law, I have given this verdict,” he said.
“As per my order, they cease to be MLAs of the Assembly, through this order is subject to judicial scrutiny,” he said.
