Axe falls on 7 BJP MLAs Suspended From Party Membership CASH-FOR-VOTE CONTROVERSY

Apr 20: The Parliamentary
Board of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
Wednesday suspended the party’s
seven MLAs from Jammu and
Kashmir from primary membership
after it found them guilty of cross-
voting during the recently held
Legislative Council polls in the state.
The party also issued show-cause
notice to the members to explain
under what circumstances they
violated the party whip.
The Parliamentary Board, the
highest decision-making body of BJP,
met at New Delhi and instead of
taking any harsh action against the
MLAs involved in cross-voting
decided to suspend them from the
primary membership of the party.
“ The Board also constituted an
inquiry committee under the
chairmanship of party’s J&K in-
charge O P Kohli to further probe the
matter,” party sources said.
The BJP Parliamentary Board
comprises Nitin Gadkari chairman,
Anant Kumar secretary and Atal
Behari Vajpayee, L K Advani, Murli
Manohar Joshi, M Venkaiah Naidu,
Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun
Jaitley, Prof Bala Saheb Apte, Thawar
Chand Gehlot and Ramlal Ji as
members.
“ The party has suspended seven
MLAs from Jammu and Kashmir for
cross-voting in recent Legislative
Council polls,” Ananth Kumar told
reporters after the meeting.
Party sources said that it was found
that four MLAs including Ashok
Khajuria, Jugal Kishore Sharma,
Shyam Choudhary and Choudhary
Sukhnandan had voted in favour of
the party candidate, Ranjeet Singh
during the April 13 LC polls, while all
other MLAs including Leader of BJP
Legislature Party leader Chaman Lal
Gupta, Garu Ram, Jagdish Raj Sapolia,
Durga Dass, Baldev Raj Sharma and
Bodj Raj Bodhi and Lal Chand were
suspended for cross-voting.
“ The party has also issued a show-
case notice to all seven MLAs to clear
their position within a week,” party
sources said. “Further action against
the members would be taken after
they submit their reply to the notice
and the enquiry report by the
committee constituted for the
purpose”, sources said.
The party high command had
secured the resignation of all its 11
MLAs in Jammu and Kashmir, after
seven of them cross-voted in the
Legislative Council elections held on
April 13. Seven out of the 11 MLAs
had voted for the National
Conference-Congress alliance
candidates.
BJP President Nitin Gadkari had held
a meeting with party MLAs from
Jammu and Kashmir at his residence
on Monday and authorized the
Parliamentary Board to take the final
decision on the matter. The party’s
central leadership had taken strong
exception to seven of its MLAs voting
against the party line during
elections.
The cross-voting triggered protests
from BJP leaders and workers in the
state. Dejected and disappointed by
cross-voting, BJP activists have
warned to resign en mass in case
party fails to bring the guilty to
book.