Congress suspends 3 legislators over cross-voting in RS polls
Allegations of “horse trading” of MLAs erupted as Rajya Sabha elections saw cross-voting in Bihar, Odisha and Haryana, with the Opposition Congress suspending three of its legislators in Odisha and warning some of its MLAs of strict action in Haryana.
The ruling NDA won all five Rajya Sabha seats in Bihar, three of the four in Odisha and one of the two seats that went to polls in Haryana. The NDA, in total, won nine, including one BJP-backed Independent in Odisha, of the 11 seats where elections were held on Monday, while the Congress and BJD got one seat each.
Overall, the ruling NDA alliance bagged 22 of the 37 seats of the Rajya Sabha that are falling vacant on April 2, which will help increase its tally to its maximum. While nine of BJP’s MPs are retiring next month, the party by itself has won 14 seats.
In the late-night counting for two seats in Haryana that went past midnight, BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia and Karamvir Singh Boudh of the Congress were elected to the Rajya Sabha, amid allegations of violation of vote secrecy by both sides.
It was a narrow win for Boudh over Independent candidate Satish Nandal (63), as cross-voting dented the otherwise comfortable position of the Congress for securing an easy victory.
Bhatia won the first seat comfortably, polling 39 first-preference votes. In the fight for the second seat, Boudh polled 28 votes, while Independent candidate Nandal got 16.
Five votes were later declared invalid -- four of the Congress and one of the BJP, officials said. INLD leaders Abhay Singh Chautala and Aditya Devi Lal said the party decided to abstain, keeping in mind people’s sentiments.
Taking strict note of reports of cross-voting by its MLAs, the Congress said it will take action against such legislators.
“We are going to issue a show-cause notice to them,” party in-charge for Haryana, B K Hariprasad, told PTI.
Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini said, “Satish Nandal lost by just one vote (referring to the narrow difference). Five Congress MLAs cross-voted. Four of their votes were rejected.”
State Congress chief Rao Narender Singh told reporters, “Those who betrayed the Congress will face strict action.”
The leader of opposition in the Haryana Assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told reporters that while he will not take names (of those who cross-voted), “people have understood”.
Attacking the BJP, Hooda said, “They tried all tactics. But Congress passed the ‘Agni Pariksha’ (to win one seat).”
“‘Prajatantra’ (democracy) has won, and ‘vote chori’ has lost.”
In Delhi, party MP Deepender Hooda accused the BJP of indulging in “vote chori” in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana. Under the cover of darkness at night, the BJP “tried to murder democracy” and indulge in “vote chori”, he alleged.
In Odisha, the opposition Congress suspended three of its MLAs for voting for BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray, helping him win the Rajya Sabha polls, according to a party statement.
These MLAs are Ramesh Chandra Jena of Sanakhemundi, Dasarathi Gomango of Mohana and Sofia Firdous of Barabati-Cuttack.
They voted for Ray during the Rajya Sabha elections on Monday, according to the party.
Announcing their suspension, the state Congress in a social media post said, “Those who betray Congress are betraying the nation.”
State Congress president Bhakta Charan Das said, “This act of betrayal was unexpected from these MLAs. We will ensure that they are disqualified from the assembly under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.”
Congress legislature party leader Rama Chandra Kadam, in a letter to Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy, sought the disqualification of the three MLAs.
“Their conduct has not only undermined party discipline but also goes against the democratic mandate under which they were elected,” he said in the letter.
“It is unfortunate that political morality has sunk to a nadir. People no longer respect the political parties that brought them into office. The time has come to seriously re-examine the anti-defection law, as allegations of horse-trading arise in every election. What used to be a retail activity has now become a mega mart operation,” Congress MP Manish Tewari said here.
Rejecting opposition’s allegations of “horse-trading” in Rajya Sabha polls in Bihar, the BJP and its alliance partners said the opposition failed to manage its legislators and did not follow standard procedures of issuing a whip during voting.
RJD MP Sudhakar Singh alleged that the NDA secured victory in Bihar by using “money power”.
“Elections are being fought without majority support, by using money power. Legislators are being broken away. This is not how a democracy should function,” Singh said.
Hitting back, BJP MP from Bihar’s Paschim Champaran, Sanjay Jaiswal, said, “The Congress party did not issue a three-line whip, which is a standard practice during voting. Rahul Gandhi was holidaying in Cambodia, Tejashwi Yadav was vacationing in Europe --so their leaders were busy elsewhere as well. They could not even issue a whip, and now they are questioning who voted for whom.”
JD(U) leader and Union Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh said that Tejashwi Yadav should introspect instead of levelling allegations.
Bihar’s longest-serving chief minister, Nitish Kumar and new BJP president Nitin Nabin were among those elected to the Rajya Sabha from Bihar on Monday.
NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar and Union minister Ramdas Athawale were among the 26 candidates elected unopposed on March 9 after the withdrawal of nominations.
