Day before Himachal bypolls verdict, speaker accepts independent MLAs’resignation

In a decision bound to have ramification on the state’s political scenario, Himachal assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on Monday accepted the resignations of three Independent MLAs who had voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate in February’s Rajya Sabha elections.

“All the three ceased to be members of Vidhan Sabha; notification will be issued shortly and will be published in the gazette,” Pathania said.

The decision ended their membership in the Vidhan Sabha with immediate effect, bringing the 68-member assembly’s strength down to 59 as six Congress rebels had earlier been disqualified for defying a party whip. The number will come back up to 65 after results for the assembly bypolls on the six seats vacated by the Congress leaders are announced on Tuesday.

Notably, Congress’ strength in the House had come down from 40 to 34 after six rebels and the three independents in question (who were supporting the government) had joined the BJP after the tumultuous Rajya Sabha polls. The 34 MLAs, after the independents’ membership being terminated, are now enough for the party to reach the majority mark of 33.

Political analysts noted that the acceptance of resignations will open a new political debate over the acceptance. “Though the speaker’s decision is as per the provision within the anti-defection law, the timing of the speaker’s swift action may be an issue for political debate,” Ramesh K Chauhan, the Himachal Pradesh University’s political science department head said.

The three independents —Hoshiyar Singh (Dehra), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), and K L Thakur (Nalagarh) — had submitted their resignation on March 22, but the decision was pending with the speaker amid allegations from the Congress legislative party that the decision was taken under duress.

The three had approached the Himachal Pradesh high court challenging the speaker’s constitutional authority and seeking directions from the court. A division bench had on May 8 delivered a split verdict and the case is still pending with the court.

The Independent joined the BJP in New Delhi a day after resigning.

Elaborating on the decision, the speaker said that he had considered all the aspects before accepting the resignation.

“The three had approached the speaker and the Vidhan Sabha secretary, which reflected their genuineness. We held a brief inquiry into the petition filed by Jagat Singh Negi. The net result is that they cease to be a member either I accept the disqualification or disqualify them. This is a less harsh order,” he added while briefing the media.

Congress leader Jagat Singh Negi had filed a petition seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law, arguing that they had joined the BJP before their resignations were accepted. However, Pathania said that the petition was now moot following the acceptance of the resignations.

“Another petition was filed by Congress leader Jagat Singh Negi seeking disqualification of these MLAs under the anti-defection law as they joined the BJP before acceptance of the resignation but as I have accepted the resignations. So, the other petition would automatically become infructuous,” Pathania said.

Independent MLA KL Thakur hailed the decision that it could have come earlier.

“An early decision would have saved money and imposed a code of conduct again,” he said.

Earlier, the speaker had disqualified six Congress rebels for defying a party whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the government during the cut motions and budget. The six seats held by these MLAs were declared vacant, bringing down the effective strength of the House from 68 to 62.

With the speaker accepting the resignations of the three Independent MLAs, the strength has come down further to 59.

The bypolls to the six assembly seats of Dharamshala, Sujanpur, Barsar, Gagret, Kutlehar, Lahaul and Spiti that were vacated following the disqualification of the Congress rebels were held on June 1. The BJP had fielded all six turncoats from the seats they held as Congress members.

While the Congress has 34 MLAs in the House, the BJP has 25.