In the politics of Himachal Pradesh, rebellion proved costly for six Congress MLAs. Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Thursday disqualified these six Congress MLAs. These six Congress MLAs had written about the defeat of Abhishek Manu Singhvi by going against the party line in the Rajya Sabha elections and voting in favor of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan. The Speaker gave him this decision in the case of violating the whip. But with this decision, the number game of Himachal Assembly has changed, but the question is, for whom is BJP or Congress beneficial?
The six Congress MLAs who cross-voted during the Rajya Sabha elections were Sudhir Sharma, Rajendra Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Devendra Bhutto. In the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday, during the budget session, a request was made to the Speaker on behalf of Parliamentary Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan to disqualify six Congress MLAs for not obeying the whip. Speaker Kuldeep Pathania disqualified six MLAs under the anti-defection law. However, the disqualified MLAs can challenge Speaker Pathania’s decision in the High Court.
What does Himachal’s equation say?
There are 68 seats in Himachal Assembly in which Congress has 40 MLAs and BJP 25. Apart from these, there are 3 independent MLAs. For majority, support of 35 MLAs is required. Now, after the disqualification of six MLAs by the Speaker, the numbers game in the Assembly has changed. According to the new equation, there are now a total of 62 MLAs in the House, in which Congress has 34 and BJP has 25. Apart from these, there are also 3 independent MLAs. Now the majority figure became 32.
After the new equation, Congress now has the support of 34 MLAs, due to which the Sukhu government is not in any kind of crisis right now. Congress can prove majority only without the support of independent MLAs. Congress has the support of 34 MLAs.
15 BJP MLAs have been suspended
On the other hand, during the budget session, the Assembly Speaker had expelled 15 BJP MLAs for sloganeering and alleged misconduct in the House. After the expulsion of 15 BJP MLAs and disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the strength of the House has come down to 47 and the majority figure is 24. However, after the presentation of the budget, the Assembly has been adjourned indefinitely. It is not decided for how long the 15 BJP MLAs have been expelled. It has often been seen that the suspension of MLAs lasts only during the current session.
Congress currently has 34 MLAs while BJP has 25 MLAs. Apart from this, there are also three independent MLAs. Even if BJP adds three independent MLAs, its tally reaches 28. Whereas for majority the support of 34 MLAs will be required. The six Congress MLAs who have been suspended go to the High Court and if they get relief, the game of Himachal Pradesh will change completely once again.
If there is a by-election…
If there is no relief from the High Court and Speaker Pathania’s decision remains intact, then re-elections will be held on these six assembly seats. If BJP succeeds in winning all the six seats in the by-elections, then the tension of the Congress government will increase. BJP will reach the figure of 34 with its and 3 independent MLAs while Congress’s strength will remain at 34, which also includes one Speaker. In this way BJP’s number will be 34 and Congress’s number will be 33. This is the reason why in case of by-elections, all efforts will be made to win as many seats as possible so that we can dominate the power in the state.
