The election to the 15 Rajya Sabha seats across Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh on February 27 was marked by cross-voting in all three States, despite parties issuing three-line whips, deviating from the norm.
But the move could start a legal debate as whips are not issued for Rajya Sabha elections. The absence of a whip and the appeal for a “conscience vote” makes it easy for MLAs to avoid any action under the anti-defection law or the 10th Schedule even if they cross-vote.
In Congress-ruled Himachal Pradesh, where six MLAs of the Congress voted in favour of the winning BJP candidate, the ruling party had issued a three-line whip for all its lawmakers to vote for the party’s nominee, Abhishek Singhvi.
But when the BJP challenged the Congress’s move in the Election Commission of India on February 25 and accused the ruling party of violating the rules of the conduct of elections in Himachal Pradesh, the Congress went back on the whip. “In the initial stages, we had contemplated issuing whip but when we got to know that in Rajya Sabha elections, whip don’t matter, we didn’t issue the whip,” said Harshvardhan Chauhan, a Minister in the Himachal Pradesh government.
In Karnataka, where one BJP MLA voted in favour of the ruling Congress, all the parties including the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) had issued whips. Commenting on the cross-voting in the southern State, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, R. Ashok, told reporters that the MLA had violated the party whip.
An expert on legislative affairs and former secretary general of the Lok Sabha, P.D.T Achary told The Hindu that a party cannot act against any MLA under the 10th Schedule as a whip cannot be issued for voting in the Rajya Sabha election.
“This voting is not inside the House but one that is conducted by the Election Commission. There cannot be a whip and the law is well settled here. However, there is another ground in which the 10th schedule can be applied and that is if a member voluntarily gives up the membership of a party,” he explained.
The former Lok Sabha secretary general said that if an MLA has acted against the interest of his own party or government, then the Speaker of the Assembly can interpret it as “voluntary giving up membership”.
“According to me, the MLA doesn’t have to resign. His conduct or action matters and the Speaker can interpret these acrions,” he said.
Such an “interpretation” may become crucial for the survival of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government in Himachal Pradesh now. In the 68-member Assembly, the Congress had 40 MLAs, the BJP had 25 and there were three independent MLAs. If the Speaker takes action and disqualifies the six rebel MLAs who voted in favour of the BJP, then the strength of the House will come down to 62 and the halfway mark would be 33, one less than Congress’s current strength.
