The Congress party is at risk of losing power in Himachal Pradesh, a state it has governed independently, following a political upheaval less than two years after seizing power from its perennial rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Six Congress MLAs crossed-voted in the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, resulting in a victory for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
The Congress party is at risk of losing power in Himachal Pradesh, a state it has governed independently, following a political upheaval less than two years after seizing power from its perennial rival, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The state descended into chaos with the recent election for the only Rajya Sabha seat at the centre.
Six Congress MLAs crossed-voted in the Rajya Sabha election on Tuesday, resulting in a victory for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan. The rebel MLAs – including Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur – spent last night in a hotel in BJP-ruled Haryana’s Panchkula and left for Shimla in the morning.
The BJP maintained that the Congress government had lost the confidence of the House and demanded Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's resignation.
Moreover, senior leader and son of six-time Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya Singh resigned as minister, claiming that the Sukhvinder Sukhu-led government had "humiliated" him and its own legislators.
In a parallel development, 15 BJP MLAs, including Jai Ram Thakur, the Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Assembly, were expelled from the House by the Speaker on Wednesday morning on the grounds of alleged misbehaviour and shouting slogans.
Earlier in the day, Thakur had met the Governor and expressed apprehension that the Speaker might dismiss BJP MLAs to prevent a division of votes and facilitate the passage of the Budget. Let’s look at the numbers.
The Himachal Pradesh Assembly is set to take up a motion to pass the budget today. The number of votes required to pass the motion would depend on the total number of members present and voting during the motion.
Usually, a simple majority is required for the motion to pass. This indicates that the motion will succeed if it has the backing of more than half of the members who are present and vote.
If the budget is not passed, it technically means the government has lost the confidence of the House.
The 68-seat Himachal Pradesh assembly comprises 40 Congress MLAs, 25 BJP legislators, and three independents. However, the defection of six Congress legislators has unsettled the ruling party, which holds power in only three states independently.
With the expulsion of 15 BJP MLAs, the drama in Himachal Pradesh has taken a new turn, as it has brought the effective strength of the House to 53. If these MLAs remain excluded during the vote, Congress would require only 27 votes to secure the budget's passage.