Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who voted for BJP candidate move Supreme Court against disqualification

The six Congress MLAs from Himachal Pradesh, who recently voted in favour of a candidate of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the election for Rajya Sabha, have approached the Supreme Court against their disqualification by the speaker of Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly [Chaitanya Sharma Vs. Speaker Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly]..The six MLAs, Chaitanya Sharma, Davinder Kumar (Bhutto), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Rajinder Rana, Ravi Thakur and Sudhir Sharma, have moved a joint petition against their disqualification.They have also prayed for a stay on the speaker's decision during the pendency of the case. The petition filed on March 5 has not been yet listed for hearing by the registry..The six MLAs were disqualified by the speaker on a petition moved by the State Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Harshwardhan Chauhan soon after their cross voting led to defeat of the Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha election.Speaker Kuldeep Pathania disqualified the MLAs not for cross voting but for having remained absent from the House despite issuance of a Whip by the party. .In the order dated February 29, the speaker had recorded that it was deemed fit to issue an urgent notice on the disqualification petition in view of the "extraordinary situation" prevailing in Himachal Pradesh. The request for additional time by the six MLAs to respond to the petition was declined with the observation that “if the time us allowed to pass without the unscrupulous activities of elected MLAs being checked/punished, it would amount to allowing an elected Government to be destabilised, without any fear or recourse to the Tenth Schedule.”.On the absence of the MLAs from the house on February 27 and 28, the speaker had opined that even if it is assumed that they had not received the Whip, the lawmakers elected on the ticket of Congress were bound to support the government in the voting on the budget. “The voting on the budget is a critical business of the Government. If a government is not able to pass the budget, it is seen as an indication of loss of confidence in the government. In other words, voting on a budget is like a confidence motion,” the speaker had said.The speaker further had opined that in voting on critical matters like budget, elected MLAs of a party cannot be permitted to hide behind procedural technicalities such as proof of service of the Whip.Considering whether the six MLAs were liable to be disqualified, the Speaker had said their absence demonstrated that they have no allegiance to their political party and have voluntarily given up the membership of Congress party.Thus, the Speaker had ruled that the six MLAs incurred disqualification under the Tenth Schedule..On the cross voting of the MLAs, the Speaker in the same judgment had questioned a Supreme Court decision which states that anti-defection law does not apply to elections for Rajya Sabha seats..Since it was undisputed that Congress candidate Singhvi lost in the election, the speaker had declared it a matter of official record that the six the MLAs cross voted.On the legal position, the speaker first took note of a Constitution Bench of Supreme Court which holds that the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-deflection law) is not attracted in the case of Rajya Sabha elections.However, the Speaker also noted that there is a subsequent three-judge bench decision holding that the Tenth Schedule will apply to the Rajya Sabha elections..The speaker said that he agrees more with the three-judge bench decision.However, despite the same, the speaker said he would have to abide by the Constitution Bench decision and had, therefore, held that the cross voting by the MLAs would not attract the Tenth Schedule.