On March 18, the Supreme Court is slated to hear a plea from six Congress rebels who crossed party lines in the recent Rajya Sabha polls in Himachal Pradesh. They are challenging their disqualification from the state assembly.

Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto were disqualified for disregarding a Congress whip directing their presence in the House and their vote in support of the Himachal Pradesh government during the cut motion and budget.

According to the cause list for Monday posted on the Supreme Court's website, the plea is scheduled for a hearing before a bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta.

During the plea hearing on March 12 in the Supreme Court, the bench queried the petitioners about their decision not to approach the high court to contest their disqualification. The petitioners' counsel responded by highlighting the unusual circumstance of the Speaker's rapid disqualification of the MLAs within just 18 hours.

In their plea filed with the Supreme Court, the petitioners have named Pathania, State Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan, and others as respondents.

After the disqualification of the rebels, the House's effective strength decreased from 68 to 62, with the number of Congress MLAs decreasing from 40 to 34.

In their petition, the rebel MLAs have alleged a violation of the principle of natural justice, asserting that they were not provided with sufficient opportunity to respond to the disqualification petition. The Speaker announced the disqualification of the six MLAs during a press conference on February 29, stating that they had violated the anti-defection law by defying the party whip. He concluded that they ceased to be members of the House with immediate effect.

The petition requesting their disqualification was submitted by the Himachal Pradesh Parliamentary Affairs Minister to the Speaker. This action was taken because the rebel members defied the party's directive, which mandated their presence in the House and their vote in favor of the budget. According to the anti-defection law, any elected member who voluntarily relinquishes their party membership or votes or abstains from voting in the House against the direction of their political party is subject to disqualification.

The Speaker stated that these MLAs had signed the attendance register but abstained from participating in the House during the voting on the Budget. Notices were sent to them via WhatsApp and email, informing them of their defiance of the party whip and summoning them to appear for a hearing.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly passed the Finance Bill through a voice vote following the suspension of 15 BJP MLAs by the Speaker. Subsequently, the Speaker adjourned the session.

In his 30-page order, the Speaker stated that the request from the rebel MLAs' lawyer, senior advocate Satya Pal Jain, for additional time to respond to the notice was not considered, citing that the evidence was unequivocally clear. The Speaker emphasized the importance of promptly delivering judgments in such cases to uphold the integrity of democracy and to deter the "Aaya Ram, Gaya Ram" phenomenon.

The Speaker added that the judgment was unrelated to the cross-voting by these MLAs in the Rajya Sabha polls.