Congress demands disqualification of MLA Kiran Choudhry from Haryana assembly

Chandigarh, June 19 

The Haryana Congress on Wednesday wrote to the state assembly Speaker seeking disqualification of Kiran Choudhry as member of the Vidhan Sabha.

Kiran Choudhry and her daughter Shruti Choudhry along with their supporters joined BJP in Delhi on Wednesday.

Both Kiran Choudhry and Shruti Choudhry had resigned from the primary membership of the Congress on Tuesday, alleging the state unit of the party was being run as a “personal fiefdom”, in an apparent reference to former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

In a communication addressed to Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, Deputy Leader of Congress Legislature Party (CLP), Aftab Ahmed, and CLP chief whip, BB Batra, mentioned that Kiran Choudhry had been elected as MLA of the Congress party from Tosham in Bhiwani after the assembly polls in 2019.

“It has come to our notice that Kiran Choudhry has resigned from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress party on June 18. Furthermore, she has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of BJP leaders on June 19.

“A copy of her resignation letter addressed to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, dated June 18 is enclosed herewith..,” they wrote.

The Congress leaders said according to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution of India, specifically Paragraph 2(1)(a), “a member of a House belonging to any political party shall be disqualified for being a member of the House if they voluntarily give up their membership of such political party”.

Ahmed and Batra said given that Kiran Choudhry was elected as a candidate of the Congress and has now voluntarily given up her membership by joining the BJP, she stands disqualified under the provisions of the Tenth Schedule.

“She has incurred a clear disqualification and cannot be counted as a Member of Legislative Assembly for any intent and purpose on June 19, 2024,” they further wrote, requesting that a suitable notification or declaration regarding her disqualification may be made.

Kiran Choudhry is daughter-in-law of former Haryana chief minister Bansi Lal.

She and Shruti joined BJP in the national capital in the presence of Union minister Manohar Lal Khattar, party national general secretary Tarun Chugh, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and other senior leaders at the party headquarters.