The Congress is contesting elections to save democracy in Himachal Pradesh, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Monday, stressing that the defection by its six MLAs will be a major issue in the polls.
Six Congress rebels, who were later disqualified and are now contesting on BJP ticket in the assembly bypolls, and three independents had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27.
"Elections are being held, it is a festival of democracy and in Himachal Pradesh, we are contesting elections to save democracy. We are appealing to the general public why the leaders they elected for five years voted in favour of the BJP candidate in Rajya Sabha polls in 14 months and then got disqualified," Suku said in Kangra district.
The six Congress MLAs -- Rajinder Rana (Sujanpur), Sudhir Sharma (Dharamshala), Ravi Thakur (Lahaul and Spiti), Inder Dutt Lakhanpal (Barsar), Chetanya Sharma (Gagret) and Devinder Kumar Bhutto (Kutlehar) -- were disqualified for defying a party whip to be present in Vidhan Sabha and vote in favour of the government during the passage of budget. -- PTI