Expell MPs who defied party whip, BJP urges Somnath

Malhotra said the Speaker assured him that action would be taken at the earliest.

“He told me that notices had already been sent to these MPs and once he receives their replies, he would take action,” Malhotra said.

However, the Speaker did not give him any time frame within which action would be taken.

Four BJP MPs had cross-voted in the trust vote while four others had abstained. In all around 20 MPs, cutting across party lines, had defied their party whips during the July 22 trust vote.

Malhotra said he also made the demand for expanding the present committee — consisting of only seven MPs — to 11. “The privileges committee has 11 members and I demanded that the remaining members of that committee should be included in this committee,” Malhotra said.

“The Speaker said he had tried to give appropriate representation to all parties. After hearing my plea that NDA members were under-represented, he asked me to make the request in writing and promised to look into the matter,” he said.