Shimla, Dec 10 (IANS) The Congress has expelled from its Himachal Pradesh unit Shimla deputy mayor Harish Janartha for anti-party activities.
“The state-level disciplinary committee Wednesday decided to expel Shimla Municipal Corporation deputy mayor Harish Janartha for six years for his anti-party activities during the deputy mayoral elections,” state Congress chief Kaul Singh Thakur told reporters here Thursday.

Janartha contested the election against the party’s official candidate, Sudhir Azad, and was re-elected the deputy mayor for a second term Dec 5. He got 10 votes in the 25-member House whereas Azad got seven votes.

“Janartha will continue as deputy mayor as his expulsion has nothing to do with the functioning of the corporation,” Thakur said.

The Congress has also expelled councillor Seema Chauhan for contesting the mayoral election against party official candidate Madhu Sood.

However, Madhu Sood won the election, getting 10 votes while Seema Chauhan got nine.

The party has also sought an explanation from four other councillors who had backed Janartha and Chauhan.

The Congress councillors were divided in two groups during the elections to the post of mayor and deputy mayor. One group was backed by Congress Legislative Party leader Vidya Stokes and the other by union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh.

Janartha is believed to be a close confidant of Virbhadra Singh.

In the house, the Congress has 15 councillors, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) have eight and two councillors respectively.