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In a shock result, the BJP emerged victorious on Tuesday in the election for the single vacant Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh, where the Congress is in power, with 40 MLAs in the 68-member Assembly. While the defeat is embarrassing for the Congress, which was expecting its nominee, senior Supreme Court advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, to sail through, now there is a possibility of its government collapsing, should it fail to pass the Budget in the ongoing Session.
As the Session began, 15 BJP MLAs, including LoP Jai Ram Thakur, Vipin Singh Parmar, Randheer Sharma, Lokender Kumar, Vinod Kumar, Hans Raj, Janak Raj, Balbir Verma, Trilok Jamwal, Surender Shori, Deep Raj, Puran Thakur, Inder Singh Gandhi, Dileep Thakur and Inder Singh Gandhi, were suspended by the Assembly Speaker for allegedly shouting slogans and misconduct in his Chambers.
Though the Congress enjoys an outright majority in the Assembly that should have won Singhvi the seat, the BJP forced an election by nominating former Congress leader Harsh Mahajan as its candidate.
In the voting on Tuesday, the BJP, which has just 25 MLAs, managed to secure 9 additional votes. The vote thus ended in a 34-34 tie, with three Independents and six Congress MLAs cross-voting for the BJP. Mahajan ended up winning after the result was decided with a draw of lots.
“Thirty-four MLAs showed their honesty. They were given various allurements. But, they showed character, morality, and honesty. Those MLAs are with us. The culture of Himachal does not allow this (cross-voting). The people of Himachal do not like this,” said Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Tuesday.
The BJP has said that the Rajya Sabha results show that the Sukhu-led Congress government has lost its majority.
“BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan won despite the Congress having a massive majority in the Vidhan Sabha… The Congress government has no right to remain in power,” Jai Ram Thakur, the BJP’s Leader of the Opposition (LoP) and former CM said Tuesday.
The Congress’s immediate problem is that the Budget is to be presented on Wednesday. Early morning, Thakur met Governor Shiv Pratap Shukla seeking a division of votes on the Budget, through which MLAs’ votes on a motion are recorded, as opposed to a voice vote in which individual MLAs’ decisions are not recorded. Speculation is rife that the BJP will seek a floor test in the Assembly.
Thakur has said the party will seek a division of votes before voting on the Budget is held. “During the Budget session, there is voting on a cut motion. And if the Opposition is not convinced with the voice voting at the time, it has the right to seek division of votes,” Thakur said. A cut motion allows members of the House to oppose a demand in a Budget being presented by the government. As per the Constitution, the introduction of the Budget itself cannot be opposed.
With the majority mark in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly at 35, and with neither party hitting that threshold as per the Rajya Sabha vote, more political manoeuvring is likely before the Budget Session ends on Thursday. The expulsion of the BJP MLAs on Wednesday could prove crucial.
If the Governor believes the government is in the minority, he can ask the CM to prove his majority.
The failure of the Lok Sabha or a state Assembly to pass the Budget is seen as an indication of the government’s loss of majority. Unlike other Bills, the inability to pass legislation as crucial as the Budget, without which the government cannot function, is grounds for the Prime Minister or Chief Minister to resign.
At the same time, the six Congress MLAs who are believed to have cross-voted for the BJP on Tuesday cannot defy the party whip and vote against the Budget, without triggering the anti-defection law, which states that voting “contrary to any direction issued by the political party to which (the legislator) belongs” is grounds for disqualification.
If these six MLAs vote against the Budget and are disqualified, the total strength of the House will come down from 68 to 62, bringing the majority mark to 31. With this new majority threshold, the Congress with its 34 MLAs should be able to pass the Budget as well as retain power.
It remains to be seen how the suspension of the 15 BJP MLAs changes the equation now.
In what is further bad news for the Congress, while its six MLAs who allegedly cross-voted early on Wednesday took off from Panchkula, where they were taken on Tuesday, a sulking senior leader, Vikramditya Singh, announced his resignation from the Sukhu ministry.
Since Sukhu became the CM, a factional feud has been on between the camps led by him and Vikramitya’s mother and Congress state unit president Pratibha Singh, who is the wife of former CM Virbhadra Singh. On Tuesday, Pratibha talked about many leaders, including senior leader Rajinder Rana who cross-voted, being unhappy after being overlooked for ministerial posts.
There was also discontent within the party over the selection of Singhvi, an “outsider”, as the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha from the state. Sources said Sukhu had proposed the name of senior leader Anand Sharma, who hails from Himachal Pradesh, but the high command chose to field Singhvi.
Hours after Singhvi’s defeat, the Congress high command got into damage control mode and dispatched senior leaders Bhupinder Singh Hooda and D K Shivakumar to Himachal Pradesh. Sources said the two will speak to all the MLAs to gauge their mind, amid demands that Sukhu be removed.
