Following cross-voting by five of its MLAs in the Rajya Sabha poll on March 16 in favour of BJP-backed Independent candidate Satish Nandal, the Congress has issued show-cause notices to four of them.They are Naraingarh MLA Shalley Chaudhary, Sadhaura (SC) MLA Renu Bala, Punahana MLA Mohammad Ilyas and Hathin MLA Mohammad Israil. The show-cause notices were issued on March 18.“There were a total of five MLAs who cross-voted. The action against the fifth MLA will be taken soon. I have sent a report to the high command. The final action against all of them will be decided by the high command,” said former CM and Leader of the Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda.He said returning officer Pankaj Aggarwal had “wrongly invalidated” four Congress votes. Tohana MLA Paramvir Singh’s vote was cancelled for breach of secrecy. “We don’t know the identity of the three other MLAs whose votes were invalidated,” said Hooda.Among the MLAs who cross-voted, Chaudhary is a two-time MLA from Naraingarh, the home turf of Haryana CM Nayab Singh Saini. She won in 2019 and then in 2024. Her victory margin in 2024 was 15,094. She is the wife of Ram Kishan Gujjar, who has now resigned from the party following allegations of cross-voting. He was the working president of the Haryana Congress.Bala is also a two-time MLA from Sadhaura. She won the seat in 2019 by a margin of 17,020 votes, which was reduced to 1,699 votes in 2024.Ilyas is a five-term MLA. He won in 1991 from Nuh and became a Minister of State in the Bhajan Lal government. In 1996, he ran as an Independent but lost. In 2000, he won from Ferozepur Jhirka on the Indian National Lok Dal ticket and served as a Minister of State in the Chautala government. He lost the 2005 election from the Punahana seat but won from there in 2009. He lost again in 2014, but won in 2019 and 2024. Although he arrived in Hooda’s car at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha to vote, he met CM Saini after casting his vote. His margin of victory in 2024 was 31,916 votes.Israil is a first-time MLA from the Hathin constituency. He won by a margin of 32,396 votes in 2024. His father, Jaleb Khan, was a Chief Parliamentary Secretary in the Hooda government.The show-cause notices, issued by the chairman of the party’s disciplinary committee, Dharampal Malik, said “…it has been brought to the notice of the party leadership that during the Rajya Sabha election on March 16, you have allegedly cast your vote in a manner contrary to the prescribed procedure and the official direction issued by the party, resulting in the cancellation/invalidity of your vote”.It added, “The aforesaid act, if established, appears to be a deliberate deviation intended to defeat the party’s official position and constitutes a serious breach of party discipline.”It further said, “Such conduct amounts to anti-party activities and undermines the unity, integrity and ideological commitments of the party. It is also in clear violation of the party constitution, rules and established norms.”The four MLAs have been asked to respond in seven days. In case no reply is received within the stipulated time, it will be presumed that they have no explanation to offer, and the party will proceed ex parte.Malik confirmed that notices had been issued.