Bhubaneswar: The Opposition Congress and BJD’s push to disqualify their MLAs for cross-voting in the recent Rajya Sabha elections has ignited debate on whether the Odisha Legislative Assembly Speaker can follow the 2024 precedent set in Himachal Pradesh.
In February 2024, Himachal Pradesh Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had disqualified six Congress MLAs who had cross-voted in favour of a BJP candidate during the Rajya Sabha polls, applying the anti-defection law provisions under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
The ground for disqualification, however, was their absence from the Assembly when the State Budget and the Finance Bill were being put to vote, defying a party whip, which according to the Speaker amounted to voluntarily giving up membership of the party, thereby attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law. The MLAs challenged the decision in the Supreme Court and later resigned, resulting in by-elections in the state.
In the March 16 Rajya Sabha election for four seats from Odisha, BJP-backed independent candidate Dilip Ray emerged victorious, defeating the BJD-Congress’ common candidate, Dr Datteswar Hota, despite the Opposition bloc appearing to hold sufficient numbers on paper. Cross-voting by at least eight BJD MLAs and three Congress MLAs in favour of Ray played a decisive role in altering the outcome, allowing the BJP to secure additional representation in the Upper House.
The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) suspended three of its MLAs — Ramesh Chandra Jena (Sanakhemundi), Dasarathi Gomango (Mohana), and Sofia Firdous (Barabati-Cuttack) — for defying the party whip and engaging in anti-party activities. Labelling their actions as a “betrayal”, it also petitioned Speaker Surama Padhy to disqualify them under the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Similarly, the BJD suspended six MLAs — Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishore Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol), and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki) — following a Political Affairs Committee meeting. The party said it was “mentally prepared” for a legal battle to ensure that its six MLAs are disqualified from the Odisha Assembly.
“If required, the BJD is ready to take the matter to the Supreme Court and ensure that they are disqualified from the House,” party spokesperson Lenin Mohanty told a presser on Sunday.
BJD senior vice-president Debi Prasad Mishra stated that the party’s Political Affairs Committee expressed grave concern over the actions of the six MLAs, who not only defied the party whip by voting against its official position in the recent Rajya Sabha election but also issued public statements criticising the party leadership. “Under the BJD constitution, publicly issuing statements against the leadership or defying a collective party decision amounts to automatic self-resignation from the party. Given this breach, the six MLAs stand to lose their membership in the Assembly due to their violation of the party rules,” he added.
