Haryana Congress to take call on April 3 on action against its 5 MLAs for cross-voting in RS polls
The Disciplinary Action Committee will meet at the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee office in Sector 9, Chandigarh, under the chairmanship of Dharampal Malik
Haryana Congress’ Disciplinary Action Committee is meeting on April 3 to take a decision on action against its five MLAs who allegedly cross-voted in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
The five MLAs who allegedly cross-voted included Naraingarh MLA Shalley Chaudhary, Sadhaura (SC) MLA Renu Bala, Ratia (SC) MLA Jarnail Singh, Punahana MLA Mohammad Ilyas, and Hathin MLA Mohd Israil. The disciplinary committee issued show-cause notices to them but only Chaudhary, Bala and Singh replied.
The Committee will meet at the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) office in Sector 9, Chandigarh, under the chairmanship of Dharampal Malik. Other members of the Committee include Rohit Jain, ex-MP Kailasho Saini, ex-MLA Anil Dhantori and MLA Jagadhri Akram Khan.
The Committee will convey its decision to the party high command, which will decide on the punishment. The MLAs could be expelled from the party.
Meanwhile, the Congress Legislative Party (CLP), led by former CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had met in Delhi on March 30 and decided to take strict action against the MLAs who had cross-voted.
The Congress has 37 MLAs in a 90-member House. According to the formula, the Congress candidate, Karamvir Singh Boudh, needed 31 votes in a house of 90 MLAs. However, five Congress MLAs cross-voted in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal, and four of the party's votes were declared invalid.
Boudh still managed to win, receiving 28 valid votes. Hooda, who was the party's authorised representative to see the MLAs' ballot papers, had complained about the five MLAs for cross-voting.
However, he has maintained that he was not aware of those three MLAs whose votes had been declared invalid. Besides the three MLAs, Tohana MLA Paramvir Singh’s vote was declared invalid for breach of secrecy.
The party has maintained that Returning Officer (RO), IAS officer Pankaj Aggarwal, had wrongly invalidated four of its votes and complained about the same to the Election Commission of India.
Shalley Chaudhary, Renu Bala and Jarnail Singh have denied the allegations of cross-voting and have said that they had voted for the party candidate. They also maintained that they had shown their ballot papers to Hooda.
On the other hand, Mohammad Ilyas recently met CM Nayab Singh Saini and Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
At a joint Ram Navami-Eid Milan event recently, Mohd Israil confirmed that he had voted “as per his conscience and in the interest of his constituency.” BJP leaders, including Cabinet minister Vipul Goel and Industries Minister Rao Narbir Singh, were also present there.
Addressing the gathering, Israil said he had backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal. He added, “It was my right, and I voted according to my conscience.”
