Six Congress rebel MLAs disqualified from HP Vidhan Sabha by the Speaker for defying the party whip, who had moved the Supreme Court of India challenging their disqualification, did not get immediate relief as the Apex court posted the matter for hearing on March 18.

Taking up the petition of the disqualified MLAs , a three member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna , which included Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice PK Mishra, questioned the lawyer of the petitioners,  as to why didn’t they approach Himachal Pradesh High Court to seek relief ?

Senior Advocate Satya Pal Jain had sought adjournment in the case on the ground that Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the petitioners, was unable to join the court hearing.

Six Congress rebel MLAs — Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma, were disqualified by the HP Vidhan Sabha speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania for defying the party whip during passing of the HP Budget in the Vidhan Sabha, under anti defection law.

The six Congress rebels MLAs and three Independent MLAs had voted for BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in Rajya Sabha election for a vacancy from Himachal on February 27, leading to defeat of official Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, thereby reducing the number of Congress MLAs from 40 to 34, in the house of 68. 

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