Disqualified Himachal MLA Removed from AICC Secy Post

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday removed Sudhir Sharma from the post of its secretary. Sharma is one of the six party MLAs in Himachal Pradesh who were disqualified following their cross-vote in favour of the BJP candidate in the February 27 Rajya Sabha polls,.

In a release, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal said party president Mallikarjun Kharge has removed Sharma from the post of secretary with immediate effect.

Sharma is a former Himachal Pradesh minister. He was recently disqualified as an MLA for defying a party whip.

For the first time in the history of Himachal Pradesh, six MLAs  were disqualified under the anti-defection law

These six disqualified Congress MLAs moved the Supreme Court on Tuesday against their disqualification.

These Congress rebels voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha polls on February 27, and later later abstained from voting on the Budget, defying a party whip. Senior Congress leader Abhishek Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha election owing to cross voting by the rebels.

The ruling Congress sought their disqualification on the ground that they abstained from voting on the Budget, defying a party whip.

Following the disqualification of these six MLAs, the effective strength of the House has gone down from 68 to 62, while the number of Congress MLAs has got reduced from 40 to 34.