6 Congress ex-MLAs withdraw plea from Supreme Court against disqualification

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, May 10

Six former Congress MLAs on Friday withdrew from the Supreme Court their petition challenging Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania’s decision to disqualify them from the House.

Were disqualified for defying whip

• The Bench allowed withdrawal of the petition of the six former Congress MLAs who were now contesting the June 1 Assembly by-polls — necessitated by their disqualification, as BJP candidates.
• The six rebel Congress MLAs Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto were disqualified for defying a Congress whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the Himachal government during the cut motion and budget.

“We knew this was going to happen due to the elections,” a Bench of Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta said after senior counsel Abhinav Mukherjee said on behalf of the petitioners that they wanted to withdraw their petition.

The Bench allowed withdrawal of the petition of the six former Congress MLAs who were now contesting the June 1 Assembly by-polls — necessitated by their disqualification, as BJP candidates. Polling for the four Lok Sabha seats in Himachal Pradesh would be held the same day.

The six rebel Congress MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — were disqualified for defying a Congress whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the Himachal Pradesh government during the cut motion and budget.

They had also cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, resulting in the defeat of Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

The six rebel Congress MLAs had voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls which ended in a 34-34 tie, with the three Independents also voting for the saffron party. Mahajan finally defeated Congress nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi after the result was decided by a draw of lots.

Alleging that they were not given adequate opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition, the rebel Congress MLAs had contended that it amounted to violation of the principles of natural justice.

However, the top court had on March 18 refused to stay their disqualification by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29 under the anti-defection law. It had also refused to allow them to take part in the Assembly proceedings even as it issued notice to the Speaker on their petition.

Defying a party whip, the petitioner rebel Congress MLAs had abstained from voting on the Budget. It was on this ground that the Congress had sought their disqualification — the first such decision under the anti-defection law in Himachal Pradesh. Later, the Himachal Pradesh Assembly had passed the Finance Bill (Budget) by voice vote after Speaker Pathania suspended 15 BJP MLAs.

Acting on a disqualification petition filed by the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, the Speaker had on February 29 ruled that the rebel Congress MLAs attracted disqualification under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution i.e. the anti-defection law and ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect for defying the party whip.