Congress suspends five Haryana MLAs over alleged cross voting in Rajya Sabha polls

The Haryana Congress on Thursday suspended five of its MLAs from the party’s primary membership with immediate effect, taking strong disciplinary action over alleged cross voting during the recently held Rajya Sabha elections.

State Congress president Rao Narender Singh said the decision was taken for anti party activities , following the recommendations of the State Disciplinary Committee and approval from Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge . He added that the party had treated the matter as a serious breach of organisational discipline.

The suspended legislators include Naraingarh MLA Shalli Chaudhary, Sadhaura MLA Renu Bala, Punhana MLA Mohammad Illyas, Hathin MLA Mohammad Israil, and Ratia MLA Jarnail Singh . The party had earlier issued show cause notices to them after allegations surfaced that they had deviated from the official party line during voting.

According to party sources, the Haryana Congress Disciplinary Action Committee had examined responses submitted by the MLAs and reviewed the circumstances surrounding the voting process. The panel, chaired by Dharampal Malik , concluded its inquiry and recommended suspension after finding instances of alleged cross voting in favour of a BJP backed Independent candidate, Satish Nandal .

The issue had emerged after polling for two Rajya Sabha seats in Haryana was conducted on March 16. While BJP leader Sanjay Bhatia secured one seat comfortably, the Congress managed to win the second seat through its candidate Karamvir Singh Boudh , despite a closely contested outcome. Party leaders believe that the alleged cross voting and invalid votes from within its ranks affected its overall strength in the contest.

Some of the accused MLAs, including Shalli Chaudhary, Renu Bala and Jarnail Singh, have earlier denied wrongdoing, claiming they had voted in line with the party decision and that their names were being unnecessarily implicated.

The Congress said it acted after carefully examining replies to the show cause notices and based on the disciplinary committee’s findings, marking one of its strongest internal actions in Haryana in recent times.