RS Polls: Congress seeks disqualification of 7 MLAs for violating party whip

Hyderabad : The Congress party has demanded the disqualification of seven MLAs who violated the Whip and vote in favour of ruling TRS candidates in the elections for three Rajya Sabha seats held on Friday.
 
Speaking to media persons at Assembly Media Point, Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Capt. N. Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the MLAs - Kale Yadaiah, Redya Naik, Bhaskar Rao, Ch Rammohan Reddy, Koram Kanakaiah, Vithal Reddy and Ajay Kumar, who were elected on Congress ticket in 2014 elections, have voted in favour of TRS candidates in violation of the Whip issued by the Congress Legislature Party which directed them to vote for party's official candidate P. Balram Naik. Therefore, he said all seven MLAs are liable to be disqualified immediately. He said the defected MLAs have shown their voting slip to Congress polling agent and ex-MLA Kantha Rao.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy said Kantha Rao had immediately lodged a written complaint with Returning Officer and Legislature Secretary V. Narasimha Charyulu asking him to reject those seven votes and taken action against them for violating party Whip. He said the Returning Officer first refused to accept the complaint. Later, he apparently spoke to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao or Speaker S. Madhusudan Chary and accepted the complaint. However, he said that the RO did not give acknowledgement for the complaint lodged by Congress party.
 
The TPCC Chief has accused KCR of indulging in cheap politics. He said TRS had no strength in the Assembly to field a third candidate. He said TRS had only 63 MLAs while each candidate is required to get at least 30 votes and therefore, it need 90 MLAs. Although TRS deserved to win only two seats, KCR has lured the legislators of other parties to get their support for the third seat.
 
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress had fielded Balram Naik, a ST candidate, in the Rajya Sabha elections as Tribals from Telangana have no representation in the Upper House. He said to ensure the victory of a Girijan candidate, CLP leader Jana Reddy had issued a three-line Whip asking all party MLAs to vote in favour of party's official candidate. He said the Whip was directly delivered to all MLAs and it was also pasted at the residences of MLAs who defected to TRS.
 
The TPCC chief said that the issue has been referred to the Election Commission of India, Chief Electoral Officer and Returning Officer seeking disqualification of all seven defected MLAs and also cancellation of election of TRS candidate. Citing a judgment of Supreme Court, he said that the election of a candidate as Rajya Sabha member get null and void if he/she got votes in violation of party Whips. He said Jana Reddy has also submitted a representation with the Speaker seeking disqualification of defected MLAs.
 
Deputy CLP leader T. Jeevan Reddy, Whip Rammohan Reddy, MLA Revanth Reddy, Balram Naik and other leaders were also present.