Two NDA MPs disqualified for cross-voting

New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has disqualified two National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs - H.T. Sangliana of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Ramswaroop Prasad of the Janata Dal-United (JD-U), who voted in favour of the government in the July 22 trust vote.

'The speaker, Lok Sabha, disqualified H.T. Sangliana and Ramswaroop Prasad from the membership of the house vide his order dated Oct 3 under the 10th Schedule to the Constitution,' said a one-line statement issued by the speaker's office Tuesday.

Sangliana, a police official turned politician who represents the Bangalore North constituency of Karnataka, was expelled from the BJP the day after he violated the party whip.

Prasad, who represents the Nalanda constituency of Bihar, switched over to the government side.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar had fielded Prasad as the JD-U nominee for the by-election for the Nalanda seat which he had vacated after taking over as chief minister in November 2005.

Prasad was expelled from the JD-U after his surprise move.

BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said his party had demanded action against the MPs who had cross-voted during the trust vote.

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government won the trust vote with the support of at least 10 MPs from the BJP-led opposition.

As many as 275 members favoured the confidence motion while 256 opposed it in the 541-member lower house of parliament.