E-Paper
6 UP Cong MLAs get the boot for cross-voting in RS election
LUCKNOW: Acting on the report of State party unit, the Congress on Tuesday expelled six UP MLAs for cross-voting in the recently concluded elections to the Rajya Sabha, according to national general secretary of the party, Janardan Dwivedi.
The Congress has 29 MLAs in UP. The six legislators who have been expelled for indulging in anti-party activity by cross-voting in the RS polls are Mohammad Muslim from Amethi, who was the chief whip of the party, Nawab Qazim Ali (Rampur), Dilnawaz Khan (Bulandhahar), Madhuri Verma (Bahraich), Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal (Basti) and Vijay Dubey. Of these, while the three Muslim MLAs gave their first preference vote to BSP candidates, the three others voted in favour of BJP backed independent candidate Preeti Mahapatra.
Mohammand Muslim was removed the same day from the post of party chief whip by the State Congress by CLP leader Pradeep Mathur. State legislature party leader, Mathur when contacted by Hindustan Times confirmed he had submitted the report on the anti-party activities of these MLAs to the party general secretary on Monday for necessary action. Sources in the Congress, however, were tight-lipped when asked whether the party would move the Speaker for disqualification of these rebel legislators.
Meanwhile, an FIR has been filed against JD(S) MLA Mallikarjun Khuba, who in a sting operation was purportedly seen negotiating a money deal in exchange for votes ahead of the Rajya Sabha polls for four seats from Karnataka.
The First Information Report (FIR) was filed by Karnataka Legislative Assembly Secretary S Murthy, also the Returning Officer, on the directions of EC. “I have filed a complaint today and an FIR was lodged at Vidhana Soud ha Police station against M LA Mallikarjun Khuba and others under Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 171(B) of the Indian Penal Code,” Murthy said.
He said the complaint was filed based on the sting operation by a news channel in which Khuba is seen purportedly discussing an amount of over Rs 5 crore in exchange for votes.
Deciding against cancelling or postponing the elections, the EC had said it “cannot ignore to take cognisance of certain illegal activities” as appeared in media, including the TV channels.
In its June 9 order, the EC had said that Khuba, being a public servant, “may also be deemed to have committed an offence under the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, for seeking bribe for performing his constitutional function as such public servant of electing a member of the Rajya Sabha.
The June 2 sting by two channels purportedly showed MLAs negotiating a money deal in exchange for their votes in the biennial elections. JD(S) had demanded cancelling the polls, while Congress and BJP were opposed to change in the poll schedule. (With PTI inputs)