Congress expels 8 Gujarat MLAs over RS cross-vote

The expelled MLAs, who had voted for the BJP candidate, include former Gujarat CM Shankersinh Vaghela and his son Mahendrasinh

The Congress on Wednesday expelled eight Gujarat MLAs for going against the party whip in Tuesday’s Rajya Sabha election in the state. The move comes just a day after the voting was held in Gandhinagar.

In the high-stakes contest, Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel was finally elected though only 43 of the state’s 51 Congress MLAs voted for him.

The other eight MLAs voted for BJP candidate Balwantsinh Rajput. After the party complained to the Election Commission, the votes of two of the eight MLAs were disqualified.

All the eight MLAs have

been expelled for six years.

The expelled MLAs include former Gujarat CM Shankersinh Vaghela and his son Mahendrasinh Vaghela. After voting, Mr Vaghela had openly admitted that he didn’t vote for the official party candidate.

Mr Patel was declared elected around midnight, after a day-long drama, and after the vote of the JD(U)’s lone MLA Chotubhai Vasava swung the election in his favour. The JD(U) had wanted Mr Vasava to vote for the BJP, its new ally, but the legislator later asserted he had voted for Mr Patel and attacked his party president, Bihar CM Nitish Kumar, for the alliance with the saffron party.

A day after the vote, Mr Patel thanked JD(U) leader and MP Sharad Yadav for the support of his lone MLA in the Gujarat Assembly. “Thank you for your support Sharadji,” Mr Patel tweeted.

His tweet came after Sharad Yadav congratulated him on his win “in spite of toughest hurdles”. Mr Yadav has openly come out against Mr Kumar’s move to ally with the BJP in Bihar.