The Janata Dal (Secular), which saw two of its MLAs indulging in cross-voting during the recently held Rajya Sabha elections, expelled both the legislators on Wednesday. The party is set to move the process for disqualifying them from their legislature membership.
The expelled legislators are K. Srinivas Gowda, elected from Kolar, and S.R. Srinivas, elected from Gubbi Assembly constituency, who defied the party whip issued ahead of the elections. Both have distanced themselves from the party for some time now. While Mr. Srinivas Gowda gave his first preference vote to Congress candidate Mansoor Ali Khan and second preference vote to BJP’s third candidate Lahar Singh Siroya, Mr. Srinivas gave his first preference vote to Mr. Siroya and the second preference vote to Mr. Khan.
The decision was announced by JD(S) Legislature Party Deputy Leader Bandeppa Kashempur after he chaired the core committee meeting. The expulsion order, signed by the party’s State president C.M. Ibrahim, stated that the action had been taken as per the party’s constitution for breach of discipline and the punishment prescribed for it. The action has been taken following the complaint by senior party leader H.D. Revanna, who was the party’s election agent.
In the elections held for four Rajya Sabha seats from the State on June 10, the BJP won three and the Congress won one seat while the JD(S) drew blank. Despite numbers not stacking up in his favour, Mr. Siroya defeated the official JD(S) candidate, D. Kupendra Reddy. By not having enough numbers, Mr. Khan lost.
Briefing presspersons after the core committee meeting, Mr. Kashempur said the party had decided to move the disqualification procedure under the anti-defection law with the Assembly Speaker to disqualify both the legislators from the House. “We will be formally lodging a complaint with the Speaker in a day or two.”
