Manipur Assembly Speaker Y. Khemchand Singh had on Friday allowed three of the seven Congress turn coat MLAs who were barred of entering the Assembly by the Manipur High Court, to vote for the state's lone Rajya Sabha candidate.
While the rest four, and the state's lone Trinamool legislator, who had withdrawn support from the ruling BJP on Wednesday, have been disqualified from voting in Rajya Sabha elections by the Speaker.
The Congress has demanded the Election Commission to reject two votes in Manipur cast during the ongoing Rajya Sabha polls as the party alleged that two MLAs including the Speaker have shown their votes to agents present during the polls and the party has also produced a video to back its claim.
In the Rajya Sabha elections, that are underway, Bharatiya Janata Party has fielded erstwhile King Leishemba Sanajaoba and the Congress has nominated T. Mangibabu.
A one man Bench of Justice K.H. Nobin Singh in Manipur High Court had on June 8 restrained the seven Congress MLAs from entering the Assembly till the Speaker's tribunal hears their disqualification case.
The Speaker Khemchand had, however, advanced the date for proceedings on disqualification of the seven legislators' from June 22 to June 18 — a day before the Rajya Sabha elections — through a communication released in his social media account at about 11pm on June 17, after nine legislators withdrew support from the BJP.
With inputs from Avishek Sengupta
