Shimla Congress MLA moves Himachal HC against resignations of 3 independent MLAs who joined BJP
Harish Janartha alleges BJP’s pressure behind the resignations by the trio, who have moved the court saying the speaker has not accepted their resignations.
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In his petition, Congress MLA Harish Janartha said the three independent MLAs—Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and KL Thakur—were accompanied by BJP leaders when they submitted their resignations to the speaker’s office on March 22. (Express photo/File)Harish Janartha, Congress MLA for the Shimla constituency, filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh High Court on Thursday alleging three independent MLAs had submitted their resignations under pressure, and sought that their pleas for accepting their resignations be rejected.
“The independent MLAs had resigned under the BJP’s pressure. Later, they approached the high court demanding the acceptance of their resignations by Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, who has the authority to conduct an inquiry into the circumstances of the resignations. I have presented facts in my petition demonstrating that the independent MLAs were under pressure when they resigned from the Vidhan Sabha,” Janartha said.
In his petition, Janartha said the three independent MLAs—Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and KL Thakur—were accompanied by BJP leaders when they submitted their resignations to the speaker’s office on March 22. They joined the BJP a day later.
The court will hear the petition on April 30.
On March 30, they protested outside the Assembly speaker’s office alleging that their resignations were not being accepted to avoid bypolls in the constituencies they won in December 2022.
Hoshiyar Singh, Ashish Sharma and KL Thakur, representing the Dehra, Hamirpur and Nalagarh Assembly constituencies, respectively, submitted their resignations in the presence of BJP leader and former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur. Later, the trio met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla at Raj Bhavan in Shimla.
All the three contested the 2022 Assembly polls as independents after the BJP denied them tickets. However, when the Congress formed the government with 40 MLAs, they supported the government.
Bypolls to six Assembly seats that fell vacant following the disqualification of six rebel Congress MLAs will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha elections on June 1, with the counting of votes scheduled for June 4.
The rebel Congress MLAs were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in the Assembly and to vote for the ruling Congress during cut motions and the budget session.
With the disqualification of its six MLAs, the strength of the ruling Congress decreased from 40 to 34, including the speaker. The BJP holds 25 seats in the 68-member Assembly.
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