The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six MLAs for cross-voting in favour of a Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Independent candidate in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha.
The suspended MLAs are Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishor Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol) and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki).
The six MLAs, along with two previously suspended legislators, Arvind Mohapatra and Sanatan Mahakud, had voted against Datteswar Hota, a urologist fielded as a joint candidate by the BJD and the Congress for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat.
No party had a clear majority for the seat. Cross-voting by eight BJP MLAs and three Congress legislators helped Independent candidate Dilip Ray secure a win.
In a suspension order, party president Naveen Patnaik said that the MLAs had engaged in “anti-party activities”, including cross-voting, in violation of the BJD constitution that mandates adherence to collective decisions.
The party had issued show-cause notices to the legislators earlier. Their responses were reviewed by the disciplinary committee, following which the political affairs committee of the party decided on the suspension.
BJD chief whip Pramila Mallik said that the party would also seek disqualification of the MLAs, The Indian Express reported.
“We will also write to the speaker of Odisha Assembly to cancel their membership as they didn’t comply to party directive,” the newspaper quoted Mallik as saying. “We will also initiate legal procedure for cancellation of these legislators,”
The party also raised objections to the issuance of two ballot papers to BJP MLAs Upasana Mohapatra and Purna Chandra Sethy during voting, The Indian Express reported.
Mallik alleged that despite objections, the Election Commission allowed the votes to be counted.
“Issuance of second ballot is against the rule,” the newspaper quoted Mallik as saying. “Their votes should have been rejected but it was counted as valid votes. The BJD will also fight it legally challenging the poll process.”
With the suspensions, the BJD’s strength in the Odisha Assembly has dropped to 42.
On March 17, the Congress had also suspended its three MLAs – Sofia Firdous, Ramesh Jena and Dasarathi Gomango – for cross-voting.
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