Supreme Court refuses to stay disqualification of 6 Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs; check details

A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, while refusing to stay the disqualification, remarked that the petitioners would not be allowed to vote or participate in the House proceedings.

The Supreme Court on Monday (March 18) refused to stay the disqualification of six Congress legislators from the Himachal Pradesh assembly. These legislators faced expulsion by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29 for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election, prompting legal recourse from their end.

A bench led by Justice Sanjiv Khanna, while refusing to stay the disqualification, remarked that the petitioners would not be allowed to vote or participate in the House proceedings. The matter has been slated for consideration in May, particularly to deliberate on whether the fresh bye-elections to the six vacant seats, announced by the Election Commission, require a stay.

Senior advocates Harish Salve and Maninder Singh, representing the disqualified MLAs, said the urgency for a stay, especially with simultaneous polls to the assembly seats scheduled alongside the final phase of Lok Sabha elections on June 1.

Expressing concerns over the representation of the six constituencies, the bench sought responses from the secretary of the state legislative assembly, as well as from Pathania and Congress chief whip Harsh Vardhan Chauhan. The disqualified MLAs, including Chaitanya Sharma, Davinder Kumar Bhutto, and others, labeled the action taken against them as "illegal" and a violation of natural justice principles.

The disqualification stemmed from their defiance of the party whip during the Rajya Sabha election, wherein they voted in favor of Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi.