These three, along with six Cong MLAs, had voted for the BJP candidate in RS polls. Speaker K S Pathania had disqualified the six rebels and their seats were declared vacant, reducing the House strength from 68 to 62.The acceptance of the three resignations reduced it to 59 (Cong 34, BJP 25).
A source said if BJP won all six bypolls, opposition party’s strength would rise to 31. The assembly secretariat issued a notification Monday declaring Dehra, Nalagarh & Hamirpur seats vacant, necessitating bypolls.
BJP questions timing of acceptance of HP resignations
Lok Sabha Elections
Assembly Elections
With the three independents’ support, had their resignations not been accepted, BJP would have outnumbered Congress,” the source said.
The three legislators — KL Thakur (Nalagarh), Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur), and Hoshyar Singh (Dehra) — had resigned on March 22 and joined BJP the following day. However, speaker Pathania initially did not accept their resignations, citing a representation from Congress legislative party that the MLAs had resigned under duress.
Former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur of BJP questioned the timing of the resignation acceptance, suggesting it was “delayed to prevent the three independents from contesting the June 1 Lok Sabha election and assembly bypolls”.
The assembly secretariat issued a notification Monday declaring Dehra, Nalagarh, and Hamirpur assembly constituencies vacant, necessitating bypolls. “Another petition seeks disqualification of these MLAs under the anti-defection law as they joined BJP before acceptance of the resignation. Since I have accepted their resignations, this petition would automatically become infructuous,” Pathania told reporters in Shimla.
Earlier, the three MLAs had approached Himachal Pradesh high court to direct the speaker to accept their resignations. The case, pending due to differing judicial opinions, had been referred to a third judge. The MLAs also staged a dharna at Vidhan Sabha complex to press their demand.
