On March 18, the Supreme Court is slated to hear a plea submitted by six disqualified members of the Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly. These members, who belonged to the Congress party, had defied party orders during the recent Rajya Sabha polls in the state.

The six rebels - Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto - faced disqualification for their actions. They had chosen to vote against the Congress whip, which directed them to support the Himachal Pradesh government during crucial motions concerning budgetary matters.

The cause list for Monday, available on the Supreme Court's website, indicates that the case will be brought before a bench comprising Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Dipankar Datta.

During a previous hearing on March 12, the bench raised questions regarding why the petitioners had not pursued legal action in the high court prior to approaching the Supreme Court. In response, the petitioners' legal counsel highlighted the unusual circumstances of the case, noting that the Speaker had disqualified the MLAs within a remarkably short span of 18 hours.

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