A total of 15 BJP MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur, were suspended by Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Wednesday for allegedly shouting slogans and misconduct in the Chamber of Speaker.
The suspended MLAs are: Vipin Singh Parmar, Randheer Sharma, Lokender Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Trilok Jamwal, Surender Shori, Deep Raj, Puran Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Dileep Thakur and Inder Singh Gandhi.
The House has been adjourned till 12 PM.
The move comes a day after the BJP on Tuesday won the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi due to cross-voting by MLAs of the state’s ruling Congress party.
The move comes a day after the BJP on Tuesday won the state’s lone Rajya Sabha seat with its candidate Harsh Mahajan defeating Congress stalwart Abhishek Manu Singhvi due to cross-voting by MLAs of the state’s ruling Congress party.
Earlier in the day, Thakur said that a delegation of the BJP legislative party apprised Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla on the Tuesday happenings and urged him to ensure that division of votes is permitted during the budget.
“We are apprehensive that Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania might suspend the BJP MLAs so that the budget could be passed in the Vidhan Sabha,” Thakur told reporters, as quoted by PTI.
“As per our information, notices have been issued to Congress MLAs who voted for the BJP candidate, asking them to explain why action should not be taken against them under the anti-defection law,” he said.
In the 68-member Assembly, the Congress has 40 MLAs and the BJP 25, and three seats are held by Independents.