The Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee has expelled 12 leaders for six years and suspended another party leader for alleged anti-party activities during the Lok Sabha elections.
The team headed by JPCC president Sukhdeo Bhagat met in Ranchi on Tuesday, discussed the anti-party activities by the leaders and cracked the whip, a party release said.
“One of the members in the discipline committee raised one of the issues that these leaders had gone in media saying the Congress would lose in four seats, which was a deliberate act of indiscipline,” Radhakrishna Kishore, a committee member said in Ranchi on Tuesday.
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Prominent among the expelled leaders are former Deputy Chief Minister Stephen Marandi and former Ministers Chandrasekhar Dubey and Niel Tirkey.
While Mr. Dubey joined the Trinamool Congress and contested the Dhanbad seat after being denied Congress ticket, Mr. Tirkey contested the Khunti Lok Sabha seat on AJSU party on the same grievance, Mr. Marandi joined the Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric), attracting the expulsion.
The other leaders, who were suspended from the party for six years are: Israel Ansari, K.S. Chaterjee, Sashikant Tirkey, Mritinjay Sharma, K. Hembrom, Debasish Rai, Rajesh Mandal, Nilima Bari Bodra and Pradip Kesri.
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Roshan Lal Bhatia was the lone suspended leader, the release said.
The disciplinary committee of the JPCC also decided to seek a fresh list of other district party leaders who had indulged in anti-party activities during the three-phased Lok Sabha elections that ended on April 24, 2014 in the State.