SC refuses to stay 6 Himachal Congress MLAs disqualifying
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker’s order disqualifying the six Congress rebels who had cross-voted in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in the state.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued a notice to the office of Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania and sought its response within four weeks on a plea by the six rebels challenging their disqualification from the Assembly.
The bench said that pending adjudication of their plea, these disqualified MLAs will not be allowed to vote or participate in the proceedings of the assembly.
“We can issue notice on the petition, that’s fine but there cannot be a stay (on the disqualification order). That will not be permissible for this court. Second, as far as a fresh election is concerned, this we will have to examine. But we will not allow you to vote or participate in proceedings of the House. On this we are very clear...,” Justice Khanna told senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the six rebels.
