Congress MLAs stage walkout from JK Assembly

Srinagar, Sep 29: Ruling Congress MLAs, except the ministers, today staged a walk out from the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly demanding that the BJP members allegedly involved in cross voting during the Legislative Council elections earlier this year be suspended from the House.

The Congress MLAs walked out of the House as Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone refused to entertain their demand for suspension of the BJP MLAs who were expelled by their party high command for voting against the party nominee in the Council elections earlier this year.

The Speaker told the agitating Congress MLAs that since the matter was pending before the state High Court, he would not give a ruling on it before the court proceedings are over.

"I do not want my ruling on the matter to influence the court proceedings," he said.

Lone said the voting for Legislative Council elections was a secret ballot and at this time it would be difficult to ascertain who had cross voted. "It is a matter of probe," he added.

PDP MLA Abdul Rehman Veeri said a commission should be set up to investigate the issue of cross voting so that the names of beneficiaries should also be revealed.

Independent MLA Ashwini Sharma and National Panthers Party (NPP) MLA Harsh Dev Singh also demanded that a probe be conducted to identify the persons who induced cross voting from the BJP members.

"Those who got elected with these votes (from BJP MLAs) should also be suspended for the time being (from the Legislative Council)," Singh said.

PTI