Congress expels six UP MLAs for cross-voting, including chief whip

The Congress expelled six of its MLAs in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday, for cross-voting during the Rajya Sabha elections, said Janardan Dwivedi, Congress national general secretary.

Three of these MLAs had given their first preference vote to BSP candidates, while the other three had voted for BJP-backed independent candidate Preeti Mahapatra, according to the Hindustan Times.

The six expelled MLAs are Mohammad Muslim (Amethi), the party's chief whip, Nawab Qazim Ali (Rampur), Dilnawaz Khan (Bulandhahar), Madhuri Verma (Bahraich), Sanjay Pratap Jaiswal (Basti) and Vijay Dubey. Mohammand Muslim was also removed as the party chief whip on Tuesday by the state Congress CLP leader Pradeep Mathur.

It is not known, however, if the Congress will move the Speaker to disqualify the MLAs.