CHANDIGARH: The Congress has revealed the names of four of its MLAs from Haryana who allegedly crossed voted in the Rajya Sabha elections in favour of the ruling BJP.
The act exposed internal rifts within the Grand Old Party.
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Haryana Congress in-charge BK Hariprasad announced that Shalley Chaudhary from Naraingarh, Mohammad Ilyas from Punahana, Mohammad Israel from Hathin, and Renu Bala from Sadhaura.
He said that the State party’s disciplinary committee chairman, Dharampal Malik, has been informed of the same and show-cause notices will be sent to these MLAs soon.
"The committee will send the report, and based on it, action will be taken,’’ he said. Interestingly, the fifth name was not disclosed.
He said that along with the leader of the Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, he personally reviewed the ballot papers as an authorised agent.
"We had 37 votes, but 5 or 6 were declared invalid, and after examining the ballots, it was confirmed that four MLAs had cross-voted,” he said.
He also alleged that the election process was influenced by money, muscle power, and institutional pressure, claiming that several votes were deliberately invalidated to alter the outcome.
He said that despite the fact that the saffron party lacked numbers, it still supported a second candidate who was an independent to undermine the Congress nominee, a SC candidate.
Prasad said the pattern is similar to what emerged in the 2016 election to the upper house in the State.
Earlier in the day, two Congress MLAs from Haryana, Gokul Setia from Sirsa and Manju Chaudhary from Nangal Chaudha, sat on a dharna at the party office in Chandigarh, demanding that the names of the cross-voting legislators be made public.
Both legislators said their names have been irresponsibly floated on social media as among those whose votes were either cancelled or cast in favour of the independent candidate.
They demand that firstly, the party must publicly name the MLAs who cross-voted, and secondly, it must identify those whose ballots were invalidated and explain the circumstances, as they demanded a clean chit from the party high command.
The protest was later called off after Bhupinder Singh Hooda reached the spot and intervened, and persuaded them to withdraw. Hooda told the media that the concerned MLAs neither cross-voted nor had their votes invalidated. He later accompanied both MLAs to the Assembly.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Shaili Chaudhary's husband, Ramkishan Gurjar, had resigned from both the party and the position of Congress working president.
Both legislators, Chaudhary and Bala, are reportedly considered close associates of the party member of Parliament from Sirsa, Kumari Selja.
The Congress has asserted that there would be no compromise on party discipline and that strict action would be taken against those involved in cross-voting.
