For voting in favour of Congress-supported Independent,three BJP members suspended

The BJP said that the action was taken as the three corporators voted for a candidate who was supported by the Congress. The party has also served show-cause notices to them and has given them 15 days to reply. The BJP also warned of stringent action,in case the three corporators failed to reply to its notice,with party leaders hinting that the three members may even be expelled from party.

Varinder Garg,BJP Joint Media Incharge of the Haryana unit,said that action had been taken by the party high command. BJP Panchkula district president Vishal Seth said,“We had directed elected members of the corporation to abstain from voting”.

The three suspended members,in a statement issued on Monday,hit back at the party,stating that on June 29,at the first meeting of the party core group that was held at the residence of Seth,they were invited to discuss the election of the Panchkula Mayor. “Mayor’s husband,Dhanendar Ahluwalia,was called to Seth’s residence. Before Ahluwalia joined the meeting,the councillors were asked to leave and there were negotiations between the members of the core group. The outcome of the meeting was never told to the councillors,” the statement read.

On July 3,another meeting was called,in which the suspended members said that they discussed the issue of Mayoral election and again no conclusion was reached.

“At the meeting held at Seth’s residence,it was decided that the councillors would not cast their votes in favour of any candidate. Later,Seth told us that we were going to the residence of Kalka MLA Pardeep Choudhary and that BJP had negotiated a deal under the direction of state president Ram Bilas Sharma. When the we refused to go to the residence of Choudhary,Seth took us to the deputy commissioner’s office. On the way we were told that it had been decided to vote in favour of Nanda,and we agreed to it. However,at the time of election,we found out that Nanda was not a candidate. Finally,we decided to use the democratic right to cast our vote,” the statement further read.

INLD’s Chaudhary said that he didn’t meet the BJP leaders.

Station Election Commission authorities said that though the BJP had suspended the three members,they could continue as corporation members. “There is no anti-defection law in the state that prevents them from holding the position of elected members of PMC,” said State Election Commissioner Dharam Veer.