Chandigarh, April 16 (IANS) The Congress on Thursday suspended five of its MLAs in Haryana on charges of violations of organisational discipline for the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections.
This is a significant decision with significant political ramification within the party.
State Congress Committee President Rao Narendra Singh in an official statement said that MLAs from Narayangarh, Sadhaura, Ratia, Punahana and Hathin –Shaili Chaudhary, Renu Bala, Jarnail Singh, Mohammad Ilyas and Mohammad Israil, respectively, have been suspended for engaging in anti-party activities.
He added the report of the disciplinary action committee has been accepted.
The committee, led by Chairman Dharampal Malik, had recommended suspension of the legislators after examining their responses to show-cause notices.
It also remarked that the MLAs should be asked to resign from membership.
These MLAs had voted in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
The State Congress President said these MLAs showed serious indiscipline by voting against the party’s candidate during the recently elections, which is not in line with the decorum of the organisation.
Rao Narendra Singh said that discipline “is paramount in the party and indiscipline will not be accepted at any level”.
He also added that this decision is a clear message to all Congress leaders and workers that strict action will be ensured on any kind of activity against the collective decision and official stand of the party.
Last month, the Haryana Congress Legislature Party had submitted a memorandum to the Governor Ashim Kumar Ghosh and apprised him about the alleged collusion between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Officer during the elections for two Rajya Sabha seats.
The memorandum had said that the Legislative Assembly comprised 90 members, including 48 from the BJP, 37 from the Congress, two from the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), and three Independent MLAs.
A minimum of 31 votes was required to secure one Rajya Sabha seat.
Under normal circumstances, both the BJP and the Congress were poised to win one seat each.
However, in an unexpected move, the BJP had fielded its own Vice-President, Satish Nandal, as an Independent candidate, a move supported by seven BJP MLAs who acted as proposers.
The Congress had termed “this a clear instance of political horse-trading, inducement, intimidation, institutional pressure, and misuse of government machinery by the ruling party”.
The memorandum had pointed out that the Election Officer (Returning Officer), Pankaj Agarwal, played a biased and partisan role.
It claimed that he declared the valid votes cast by Congress MLAs as invalid, accepted votes cast in favour of the BJP and the Independent candidate, and deliberately disregarded all valid objections raised by the Congress vote-counting agents.
The Congress had also lodged a complaint with the Election Commission regarding this matter.
The Congress Legislature Party had requested the Governor, in his capacity as the constitutional guardian of the state, to order an inquiry into this “unethical and undemocratic conduct, to direct the government to uphold democratic values, decency, and discipline, and to ensure that appropriate disciplinary action is taken against the Election Officer”.
–IANS
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