The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday expelled its MLA Shobharani Kushwah from the party for voting in favour for Congress candidate in Rajya Sabha elections in Rajya Sabha last week.
Going against the party whip, Kushwah had voted for Congress party's Pramod Tiwari on June 10. The BJP had suspended her and issued her a show-cause notice the same day.
In a letter to Kushwah, BJP Central Disciplinary Committee Secretary Om Pathak said separate action would be taken against her for violation of discipline.
"You are expelled from the party with immediate effect and also relieved of other responsibilities given by the party," the letter read.
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Kushwah had to reply to the notice by June 19, but before that, she issued a statement to the media targeting the BJP. The MLA said the party asked her to vote for such an independent candidate in the Rajya Sabha elections who was openly discussing cross voting.
Kushwah is the wife of former BSP MLA BL Kushwaha, who was disqualified as a legislator in December 2016 after being convicted in a murder case. She won the bypoll necessitated by the disqualification on a BJP ticket in 2017. In 2018, she won the seat again in the assembly elections.
In Rajasthan, the Congress won three of the four Rajya Sabha seats. Besides Tiwari, the successful candidates were Randeep Surjewala and Mukul Wasnik. The BJP's Ghanshyam Tiwari won the fourth seat. The Congress overcame the challenge posed by the Independent candidate Subhash Chandra, who was backed by the BJP.
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(With PTI inputs)
