Congress expels six UP MLAs for cross-voting in Rajya Sabha poll

The Congress on Tuesday expelled six of its legislators in Uttar Pradesh for voting for other party candidates in the Rajya Sabha elections.

The Congress expelled on Tuesday six MLAs who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh against party candidate Kapil Sibal last week.

The Congress expelled the six MLAs for cross-voting against party candidate Kapil Sibal. (PTI Photo)

Congress general secretary Janardan Dwivedi announced the decision in presence of senior leader Ghulam Nabi Azad who was the party’s authorised representative in the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh last Saturday.

Sibal edged past Preeti Mahapatra, put up by BJP in the cliffhanger and secured his Rajya Sabha berth with support from other parties.

Read: Rajya Sabha election: As it happened

The MLAs who have been expelled for six years are Sanjay Pratap Jayaswal (Basti district), Madhuri Verma (Bahraich), Vijay Dube (Kushinagar), Mohammed Muslim (Tiloi-Amethi), Dil Nawaz Khan (Bulandshahar) and Nawab Kasim Ali Khan (Rampur).

With only 25 first preference votes to his credit and his final tally adding up to 34, Sibal fared only marginally better than his MLC colleague Deepak Singh did in the UP legislative council polls on Friday.

Azad, who is now AICC general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, said while three of the six expelled MLAs voted in favour of the BJP, three others sided with the BSP.

Taking a jibe at the Prime Minister, he said while Narendra Modi talks of cooperative federalism on the one hand, the ruling party at the Centre uses money power and government influence to win RS elections through unfair means.

Alleging the involvement of government of India in the “big conspiracy” in RS elections in Haryana, he said this portends danger for democracy.