Congress govt in Himachal Pradesh in crisis as six MLAs say 26 want CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu out | India News – MASHAHER

SHIMLA: Cross-voting, an ailing MLA being airlifted, a tie resolved by draw of lots resulting in a loss for Congress: Tuesday’s election to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal was full of drama and set the stage for BJP to mount a no-confidence move against the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu govt, and triggered calls from within for the exit of the CM.
With 40 Congress MLAs in the 68-strong assembly and three Independents supposedly backing the party, its candidate Abhishek Singhvi was expected to cruise to a win.But BJP’s Harsh Mahajan, ended up with 34 votes, as six Congress MLAs cross-voted. They claimed that a total of 26 MLAs were unhappy with Sukhu, and wanted him replaced as CM.

After voting for BJP, 6 Cong rebels say 26 of 40 party MLAs want Sukhu out

Cross-voting cost Congress Himachal Pradesh’s lone Rajya Sabha seat on Tuesday, with its nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi losing to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan in a draw of lots after the vote ended in a tie and left the door ajar for the saffron party to mount a possible no-confidence move against the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu govt in a couple of days.
Six Congress MLAs cross-voted along with three Independents and later claimed that a total of 26 MLAs were unhappy with Sukhu, setting the stage for a potential leadership change in the party.

AICC sent Karnataka deputy CM D K Shivkumar & former Haryana CM Bhupinder Hooda to HP to talk to the dissidents amid reports that they were in no mood for a dialogue unless Sukhu was replaced.
With 40 Congress MLAs in the 68-strong assembly and three Independents backing the party, Singhvi was expected to win at a canter. But Mahajan ended up with 34 votes, nine more than BJP’s strength of 25, to tie with the favourite.

The six Congress cross-voters included Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur) and Sudhir Sharma (Dharamsala), both of whom purportedly bore a grudge against Sukhu over being denied ministerial berths. Indradutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul-Spiti), Chaitanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devendra Bhutto (Kutlehar) also defied the party whip, along with Independents Hoshyar Singh (Dehra), K L Thakur (Nalagarh) and Ashish Sharma (Hamirpur).

When both candidates were tied at 34 votes, BJP objected to Congress’ ailing Chintpurni MLA Sudershan Babloo being flown to Shimla from Jalandhar by a govt-owned helicopter for the poll, terming it a violation of the electoral code of conduct. BJP summoned its counsel Anshul Bansal while the Sukhu govt got advocate general Anup Rattan to prepare legal briefs before a decision was taken to let luck decide the winner.

While the outcome of draw of lots was the unkindest cut for Congress after the cross-voting shock,
it would have also hurt that Mahajan, a loyalist of former CM Virbhadra Singh, had been the party’s election manager in HP for decades before switching to BJP ahead of the 2022 polls.
Sukhu, who has been facing dissidence for some time, alleged that “five to six” Congress MLAs were “kidnapped” by CRPF and Haryana Police and described it as “murder of democracy”.
LoP Jai Ram Thakur contested Sukhu’s allegation and said, “Congress MLAs have deserted their govt. In such a situation, how can you say they have been kidnapped?”
Sources said the nine who cross-voted left Shimla for a resort, from where they were taken to Panchkula in three CRPF buses. There, they halted at a state-owned guesthouse before leaving for another location.