Chandigarh, March 19 The Congress has issued show-cause notices to four of its Haryana MLAs who are alleged to have cross-voted during the recent Rajya Sabha elections.
This action comes after the party on Wednesday named four out of the five legislators it suspected of defying the official line. The name of the fifth MLA has not yet been disclosed.
Of these, two MLAs on Thursday denied that they had cross-voted and said that their names are being unnecessarily dragged into this episode.
The party has directed the four legislators to respond within a week of receiving the notices and explain why disciplinary action should not be initiated against them.
"We have served show-cause notices to the four party MLAs," Dharampal Malik, chairman of the state Congress disciplinary committee, told
The notices state that it has been brought to the attention of the party leadership that the MLAs allegedly cast their vote in a manner contrary to prescribed procedures and official direction issued by the party, resulting in the cancellation or invalidation of their votes.
It said their conduct, if established, was a "deliberate deviation intended to defeat the party's official position" and a "serious breach of party discipline".
The notice further stated that such conduct amounts to anti-party activities and undermines the unity, integrity and ideological commitments of the party, and is in clear violation of the party's constitution, rules and established norms.
On Wednesday, B K Hariprasad, the Congress general secretary in-charge of Haryana, named the four legislators as Naraingarh MLA Shalli Chaudhary, Sadhaura MLA Renu Bala, Punhana MLA Mohammad Illyas and Hathin MLA Mohammad Israil.
"These four MLAs have cross-voted," Hariprasad claimed.
Renu Bala and Shalli Chaudhary said their names are being unnecessarily dragged into the episode. Both of them said they showed their marked ballot to the party's authorised agent for the polls.
"The allegations being levelled against me are baseless," Bala said, claiming that due to internal bickering, attempts are being made to weaken the party.
"I voted in favour of the party candidate, Karamvir Singh Boudh, with full honesty," she said, adding, "The allegations being levelled against me are baseless. I strongly deny these."
Chaudhary said she was shocked to know that she was named.
"I was left shocked," she said.
Both the legislators said they will reply to the show-cause notice and decide the further course of action in consultation with the people of their constituencies.
Former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had maintained that five party MLAs had cross-voted and that the Congress high command has been apprised of the situation.
"These MLAs did not betray the party or me, but the people who elected them," Hooda, the leader of opposition in the Haryana Assembly, had said.
Polling for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was held on Monday. The 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.
Of the five votes declared invalid by the Returning Officer, four were reportedly cast by Congress legislators.
In an effort to prevent being influenced, the Congress had shifted its MLAs to a heavily guarded resort in Himachal Pradesh ahead of the polls. The MLAs returned to Chandigarh only on Monday morning, to cast their votes.
While the party secured a seat, the cross-voting episode exposed internal rifts and factionalism within the Haryana unit.