Chandigarh, April 5 The disciplinary action committee (DAC) of the Haryana Congress recommended the suspension of five party MLAs who allegedly cross-voted during last month's Rajya Sabha elections.
After the committee met here on Friday evening, its chairman, Dharampal Malik, told reporters that the panel would prepare a report and convey its decision to the party high command regarding the alleged cross-voting by five party MLAs in favor of the independent candidate supported by the BJP, Satish Nandal.
According to party sources on Sunday, the committee has recommended the suspension of the legislators after examining their responses to show-cause notices.
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 favor of the Congress's official candidate...". Voting for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was held on March 16.
BJP's Sanjay Bhatia won a seat comfortably, while the Congress candidate, Karamvir Singh Boudh, secured the second seat in a close contest against the independent candidate, Satish Nandal.
The alleged cross-voting by five Congress MLAs 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 legislators – Naraingarh MLA Shalli Chaudhary, Sadhaura MLA Renu Bala, Punhana MLA Mohammad Illyas, Hathin MLA Mohammad Israil, and Ratia legislator Jarnail Singh – as suspected of defying the official line.
Shalli Chaudhary, Renu Bala, and Jarnail Singh had later denied the allegations, saying their names were being unnecessarily dragged into the controversy and maintained that they had voted for the party candidate.
When contacted over the phone on Sunday, Dharampal Malik said, "We have sent our report to the State president Rao Narender Singh, party general secretary in charge B K Hariprasad, and party senior leader K C Venugopal".
"We have explained the situation and provided complete details of the circumstances from the very beginning to the end. We have finalized our report, and a decision (on what action is to be taken against the five MLAs) will be taken by the party," Malik told