Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal on Thursday said that the Congress has no right to stay in power after it lost the Rajya Sabha election despite having a majority in the assembly.

“Our experts are analysing the situation and after looking at their judgements, we will take a decision. It is too early to say anything. The Congress was totally exposed in the Rajya Sabha elections. The Congress has lost its opportunity,” Rajeev Bindal said, adding, “Morally, they have no right to stay in power.”

Earlier in the day, Himachal Pradesh assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania disqualified the six Congress MLAs who cross-voted in the Rajya Sabha election that led to the victory of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan over the party’s nominee, Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

Pathania told reporters, “Six MLAs, who contested on the Congress symbol, attracted provisions of the anti-defection law against themselves. I declare that the six people cease to be members of the Himachal Pradesh assembly with immediate effect.”

The six MLAs are Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Davinder K Bhutto, Ravi Thakur, Chaitanya Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal.

In a stunning upset for the Congress on Tuesday, Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha election despite the Congress enjoying a comfortable majority in the assembly. Both candidates secured 34 votes each in the 68-member assembly. Victory tilted towards Mahajan after a draw of lots was held as a tie-breaker.

After the 2022 assembly elections, the Congress had 40 MLAs, while the BJP had 25 in the 68-member state assembly. The remaining three seats are held by independents. With the six rebel MLAs disqualified, the strength of the House comes down from 68 to 62, and the halfway mark is 32. With the loss of six MLAs, the Congress now has 34 MLAs and the BJP, with independents, has 28.