Chandigarh, April 3 The Disciplinary Action Committee (DAC) of the Haryana Congress, which met here on Friday, will prepare a report and convey its decision to the party high command regarding the alleged cross-voting by five party MLAs during the last month's Rajya Sabha elections.
The committee, chaired by party leader Dharampal Malik, met at the Haryana Congress office here in the evening in connection with the five MLAs who allegedly voted in favour of the Independent candidate, Satish Nandal, who was backed by the BJP.
Earlier, the Congress had issued a show-cause notice to its five MLAs from Haryana for alleged cross-voting.
The notice was served for "anti-party activities by deliberately not casting a vote in favour of the Congress's official candidate...". The polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was held on March 16.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia won one seat comfortably, while the Congress candidate, Karamvir Singh Boudh, secured the second seat in a close contest against Independent candidate Satish Nandal.
The alleged cross-voting by five Congress MLAs had dented the otherwise comfortable position of the party for securing an easy victory. Four of the Congress's votes were also declared invalid during the counting.
The party had named five MLAs – Naraingarh MLA Shalli Chaudhary, Sadhaura MLA Renu Bala, Punhana MLA Mohammad Illyas, Hathin MLA Mohammad Israil, and Ratia legislator Jarnail Singh – suspected of defying the official line.
Shalli Chaudhary, Renu Bala, and Jarnail Singh had later denied the allegations, stating that their names were being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy and maintained that they had voted for the party candidate.
Only Chaudhary, Bala, and Jarnail Singh replied to the show-cause notice, Dharampal Malik, the chairman of the DAC, told reporters after chairing a meeting of the committee here on Friday.
Malik said that Chaudhary and Bala had requested that the DAC be given a personal hearing with them on Friday. "They came, and we listened to what they had to say," he said.
Then, referring to the entire matter of alleged cross-voting by the five legislators, Malik said, "The DAC will finalise its report by tomorrow and convey the decision to the party high command, which will decide on further action."
When asked about the two MLAs who had not replied to the show-cause notice, Malik said this means they have admitted the allegations against them.
Recently, Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said that the five party legislators accused of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls in Haryana should resign on moral grounds.
The former chief minister had said that more than the party, these five MLAs have betrayed the people who elected them.