Six Congress rebel MLAs disqualified in Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh Assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29 disqualified the six rebel Congress MLAs who cross-voted during the Rajya Sabha elections.
With this, the six MLAs cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh Assembly.
After the disqualification, the Congress government has, for now, survived in Himachal Pradesh after a two-day scare over its future due to cross-voting by six of its MLAs in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in the Rajya Sabha election on February 27.
The strength of the house after the disqualification, pending judicial scrutiny, comes down to 62.
The Congress now has 34 MLAs in the house, with 32 being the majority mark.
Three independent MLAs who supported the Congress also cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha election.
The BJP had demanded a trust vote soon after the Congress lost the Rajya Sabha polls due to defections.