The Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Saturday suspended six of its MLAs for cross-voting during the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Odisha.

The MLAs suspended are Chakramani Kanhar (Baliguda), Naba Kishor Mallick (Jayadev), Souvic Biswal (Choudwar-Cuttack), Subasini Jena (Basta), Ramakanta Bhoi (Tirtol) and Devi Ranjan Tripathy (Banki).

The decision came after a meeting of the party’s political affairs committee (PAC) chaired by BJD chief Naveen Patnaik. A day earlier, the party’s disciplinary committee had recommended action against the six MLAs for violating party orders.

“The six MLAs are hereby suspended from the party with immediate effect for their involvement in anti-party activities, including cross-voting, in the recent election to Rajya Sabha, violating the core principle of BJD constitution, which mandates absolute loyalty to the party's collective decisions," the party's office order said.

Opposition chief whip Pramila Mallik said the party would approach the Assembly Speaker for disqualification of the suspended MLAs. "If required, the party will also take the matter to court," Mallik said.

The move follows the Rajya Sabha polls held last Monday, where cross-voting altered the outcome of the elections.

The BJP won two of the four seats, while the BJD and a BJP-backed Independent candidate Dilip Ray secured one seat each. The winners are Manmohan Samal and Sujeet Kumar (BJP), Santrupt Misra (BJD) and Dilip Ray (Independent).

The Opposition’s joint candidate, Dr Datteswar Hota, backed by BJD, Congress and CPI(M), lost despite having the numbers on paper. The result came after six BJD MLAs and three Congress MLAs voted in favour of Dilip Ray.

On March 17, the six MLAs were issued show-cause notices and submitted their replies on Friday.

In their responses, they asked for the withdrawal of the notices and also threatened legal action against the chief whip.

The Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) also suspended three of its MLAs, Ramesh Jena (Sanakhemundi), Dasarathi Gomango (Mohana) and Sofia Firdous (Barabati-Cuttack), over anti-party activities and cross-voting.

With these actions, a total of 11 MLAs have been suspended across parties over the Rajya Sabha elections.

Earlier, the BJD had suspended Arvind Mohapatra (Patkura) and Sanatan Mahakud (Champua). With the latest move, the number of suspended BJD MLAs has gone up to eightnotices and also threatened legal action against the chief whip.

In the 147-member Odisha Assembly, the BJP has 79 seats and support of three Independent MLAs. The BJD now has 42 MLAs after the suspensions. Congress has 11 after suspending three MLAs, while CPI(M) holds one seat.