3 BJP mlas suspended
The BJP on Friday suspended three party MLAs for cross-voting in the just-concluded Rajya Sabha polls. MLAs Banwari Ram from Bihar, Bhimsen Chaudhary from Orissa and Ram Chandra from Jharkhand were suspended for not voting in favour of the BJP candidate or abstaining in the biennial polls on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the party also demanded disqualification of 17 Congress MLAs from Rajasthan, alleging that they defied their party whip by voting for BJP candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections.
Party national secretary Kirit Somaiya wrote to the Election Commission seeking action against these Congress MLAs for giving their second preference votes to BJP candidates Ram Jethmalani and V.P. Singh.
Mr Somaiya was the party’s observer for the Rajasthan elections.
In Rajasthan, the votes of two BJP MLAs were also cancelled. Speaking on the issue, BJP national spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The party unit in Rajasthan is investigating the matter to find out why the two BJP votes were cancelled or rejected. Once the facts are ascertained, action will be taken.”
Several party MLAs were said to be opposed to the candidature of Mr Jethmalani. Though Mr Jethmalani won, the cancellation of two MLAs’ votes came as a surprise to the BJP top brass.
In the case of Orissa MLA Bhimsen Chaudhary, who had signed the nomination papers of Independent candidate Tara Ranjan Patnaik as the first proposer, he, however, remained absent during polling hours.
Soon after polling was over, he called up a private news channel from an undisclosed location claiming he had been unable to participate in the voting process due to “personal reasons”.
Orissa BJP president Jual Oram, reacting to Mr Chaudhury’s statement, later said the rebel MLA had betrayed the people of his constituency, and Orissa, by helping the rival BJD candidate win the polls.
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