Shimla: As the political crisis in Himachal seems non-ending, former chief minister and leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur has claimed that the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led Congress government is looking to disqualify 7 BJP MLAs. Jairam Thakur said that BJP MLAs may be disqualified from the Himachal Pradesh assembly in order to save the Congress government. 

"There is instability in the Congress government and the Chief Minister is trying to save the government in the state, there are 7 new legislators being given the notice and they are trying to move forward towards the disqualification of more members of BJP. We are looking forward to the legal aspects," said Himachal Pradesh Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur.

Earlier, the Himachal Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had suspended 15 BJP MLAs from the house for allegedly causing ruckus in the speakers' chamber. Jairam Thakur had earlier claimed that the Sukhu government has lost the majority, asking him to resign on moral grounds. 

6 Congress MLAs already disqualified 

The 6 Congress MLAs who voted for the BJP in the recently concluded Rajya Sabha elections were disqualified by the Himachal speaker after they defied the party whip issued on the budget day. 

The six MLAs who had been disqualified were Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal under the anti-defection law.

Will this benefit the Congress government? 

After the 2022 Assembly elections, the Congress party had majority in the house with 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents.

With the six rebel MLAs disqualified the strength of the house comes down from 68 to 62 and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of 6 MLAs the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP with independents has 28. If more BJP MLAs are disqualified, then the Congress stands to gain.