Himachal guv urges speaker to accept resignation of 3 Independent MLAs

Himachal Pradesh governor Shiv Pratap Shukla said on Thursday that he has written to speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, urging him to accept the resignation of the three Independent MLAs, who along with six Congress rebels supported the BJP nominee in the Rajya Sabha polls held in February.
The three legislators — Ashish Sharma, Hoshiyar Singh, and KL Thakur— resigned from the state assembly on March 22, but the speaker is yet to accept it. All three joined the BJP along with the six disqualified Congress leaders on March 23.
“The three independent MLAs, after submitting their resignations to the secretary of the state assembly also gave a letter to me . They wanted my interference, but the Raj Bhawan can’t interfere in the matter. I had sent their letter to the speaker of the state assembly,” he said.
The governor added: “I have written a letter to the speaker quoting the Supreme Court that the Speaker has to accept the resignation of MLAs.”
On February 27, the six former Congress MLAs and the three Independent MLAs voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan in the RS polls, leading to a tie and the eventual victory of the latter by a dramatic lottery, plunging the chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led government into a crisis. The six Congress leaders were disqualified on Februrary 29 bringing the effective strength of the assembly down to 62 and the majority mark to 32 – below the Congress’s effective strength of 34. The BJP has 25 MLAs in the state. The bypolls for the six seats held by the rebel leaders are slated to be held on June 1.
“ Speaker Kuldeep Pathania is one of the senior most members of the House…he will use his own wisdom,” said education minister Rohit Thakur.
Speaker serves show-cause notice
Speaker Pathania on Wednesday served show-cause notice to the three Independent MLAs after the Congress submitted that they “resigned under duress”, not voluntarily, an official aware of the matter said.
“We have sought explanation from them in this regard,” vidhan sabha secretary Yashpal Sharma said confirming that the notices have been served.
The MLAs have maintained that they acted out of their own will and for the development of the state.