In a last-minute effort to keep its voter base intact, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Thursday expelled its 18 rebel leaders for "anti-party activities".
The state president, Ram Bilas Sharma, had taken the disciplinary action, party's Karnal unit president Ashok Sukhija said in a release. The leaders, who have been expelled for six years, were either contesting as independents or canvassing against the official BJP candidates.
The expelled leaders are Rajkaran (ward number 3); Rajesh Kumari and Rajinder Sandhu (from ward number 4); Satish Panchal (ward number 7); Varun Gupta (ward number 8); Darshna Nandvani (ward number 9); Sonia Pandit, Narinder Pandit, Jatinder Kaur and Amit Malik (ward number 10); Mohan Lodhi and Jitender Nirvan (ward number 13); Mahinder Pal Sharma, Mahipal Sharma, Jitender Sharma, Jagdish Chawla, Pawan Kashyap, Lakhmi Chand (ward number 15); and Harish (ward number 16).