BHUBANESWAR: Congress on Tuesday suspended three party MLAs, Sofia Firdous (Cuttack-Barabati), Dasarathi Gomango (Mohana) and Ramesh Jena (Sanakhemundi), and also initiated proceedings for disqualification from the Assembly for defying the party whip and cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha election in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray.
“Voting in favour of the BJP-sponsored candidate is treated as a gross violation of party discipline, which caused damage to the interest of Congress,” the suspension order issued by chairman of the OPCC disciplinary action committee Sujit Kumar Padhi stated.
Congress legislature party (CLP) leader Ramachandra Kadam also wrote to Odisha Assembly Speaker Surama Padhy stating that their action was in blatant violation of the party whip and amounted to defection under the provisions of the 10th Schedule of the Constitution of India.
Stating that their conduct not only undermined party discipline but also went against the democratic mandate under which they were elected, Kadam petitioned the Speaker to take cognisance of the matter and initiate appropriate proceedings for disqualification of the three from the Assembly under the provisions of the Anti-Defection Law.
In a separate petition, Kadam requested a change in seating arrangement for the three suspended MLAs.
He stated that the three legislators, suspended from the Congress for cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections, no longer remain part of the CLP. Their seating must reflect their current status to maintain order and proper party alignment in the House, he said.
The Congress which has a strength of 14 in the Assembly had extended support to the second candidate of BJD Dr Datteswar Hota. Though BJD and Congress had the numbers for Dr Hota’s victory, cross-voting by 11 Opposition MLAs including three from Congress enabled Ray to emerge winner after calculation of second preference votes.