Odisha: BJD suspends six MLAs for cross-voting in Rajya Sabha polls
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The Biju Janata Dal on Saturday suspended six MLAs for cross-voting in favour of a Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Independent candidate in the March 16 Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha.
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The suspended MLAs are Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishor Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol) and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki).
The six MLAs, along with two previously suspended legislators, Arvind Mohapatra and Sanatan Mahakud, had voted against Datteswar Hota, a urologist fielded as a joint candidate by the BJD and the Congress for the fourth Rajya Sabha seat.
No party had a clear majority for the seat. Cross-voting by eight BJP MLAs and three Congress legislators helped Independent candidate Dilip Ray secure a win.
In a suspension order, party president Naveen Patnaik said that the MLAs had engaged in “anti-party activities”, including cross-voting, in violation of the BJD constitution that mandates adherence to collective decisions.
The party had issued show-cause notices to the legislators earlier. Their responses were reviewed by the disciplinary committee, following which the political affairs committee of the party decided on the suspension.
BJD chief whip Pramila Mallik said that the party would also seek disqualification of the MLAs, The Indian Express reported.
“We will also write to the speaker of Odisha Assembly to cancel their membership as they didn’t comply to party...