The BJP on Tuesday named the six former Congress MLAs who were disqualified from the Assembly as its candidates for Himachal Pradesh Assembly bypolls.
The six former MLAs, who joined the BJP on March 23, have been fielded from the seats they held as Congress members before their disqualification.
The BJP has named Sudhir Sharma from Dharamshala, Ravi Thakur from Lahaul and Spiti, Rajinder Rana from Sujanpur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal from Barsar, Chetanya Sharma from Gagret and Devinder Kumar Bhutto from Kutlehar.
Reacting to the announcement, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said, “This proves that the BJP indulged in horse-trading. The people of the state will teach them a lesson.”
All the six MLAs were disqualified for defying a whip to be present in the House and vote in favour of the ruling Congress during cut motions and budget.
Further, in the Rajya Sabha elections on February 27, the six MLAs and three independent MLAs had voted for the BJP candidate, Harsh Mahajan.
Notably, the three independent MLAs, Ashish Sharma from Hamirpur, Hoshiyar Singh from Dehra and KL Thakur from Nalagarh, also submitted their resignations and joined the BJP on March 23.
The Assembly by-polls will be held on June 1, along with the elections for the four Lok Sabha seats in the state.
With the disqualification of six Congress MLAs, the strength of the ruling Congress came down from 40 to 34, including the speaker, in the 68-member Assembly. The BJP has 25 members.