A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra posted the matter for March 18, as advocate appearing for the petitioner disqualified lawmakers informed the bench that they are led by senior advocate Harish Salve who was unable to join the hearing.
File Photo: Supreme Court of India
The Supreme Court on Tuesday posted for March 18, the Himachal Pradesh rebel Congress leaders plea challenging State assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania’s decision to disqualify them.
Six Congress lawmakers in Himachal Pradesh assembly, who now stand disqualified under the anti-defection law, for cross voting during Rajya Sabha election from the State include Chaitanya Sharma, Davinder Kumar Bhutto, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Rajinder Rana, Ravi Thakur, and Sudhir Sharma. All the six were disqualified by Speaker Pathania on February 29, 2024.
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A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Prashant Kumar Mishra posted the matter for March 18, as advocate appearing for the petitioner disqualified lawmakers informed the bench that they are led by senior advocate Harish Salve who was unable to join the hearing.
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Adjourning the matter and posting it for March 18, the bench asked the six disqualified lawmakers why they haven’t moved to Himachal Pradesh High Court with their grievances and what is their fundamental right that has been violated.
Advocate, appearing for the six disqualified lawmakers, responded by saying that they have been elected, the apparently unimpressed bench said that it will take up the matter next Monday, March 18.
On February 29, Speaker Pathania disqualified the six Congress MLAs who had cross voted in the Rajya Sabha polls.
After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.
These rebel legislators have cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha polls. In the voting of Rajya Sabha election recently, the BJP, which has just 25 MLAs, managed to secure 9 additional votes. The vote thus ended in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs cross-voting for the BJP. Harsh Mahajan ended up winning after the result was decided with a draw of lots.
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