Six disqualified Himachal Congress MLAs move SC

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Six Congress MLAs, who were disqualified after they cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh, moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against their disqualification.

The ex-MLAs have filed a plea against the February 29 decision of the state Legislative Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania.

These Congress rebels, who had voted in favour of the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls, later abstained from voting on the Budget, defying a party whip.

The ruling Congress had sought their disqualification on this ground. 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 from 68 to 62, while the number of Congress MLAs has shrunk from 40 to 34.