Cracking the whip a day after the closely-contested Rajya Sabha elections, the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Wednesday expelled for six years eight rebel party MLAs, including Shankersinh Vaghela, who violated the party’s order and cross-voted against Congress nominee Ahmed Patel.

Those expelled, apart from Vaghela, are his son Mahendrasinh, CK Raulji, Amit Chaudhry, Karamsi Patel, Bholabhai Gohil, Dharmendrasinh Jadeja and Raghavji Patel, said GPCC spokesman Manish Doshi here.

The 13th Vidhan Sabha, whose term will expire in December, had 57 Congress MLAs, of which six had resigned from the party as well as the Assembly last month.

Of the remaining 51, Vaghela had resigned from the party but not from the Vidhan Sabha and, technically, continued to be a Congress MLA. The rebel MLAs had voted for BJP nominee Balwantsinh Rajput on Tuesday.

While Vaghela had, in July, announced that he would not join any other party now but continue to work for the people, his supporters — now expelled from the Congress — could join the BJP soon.

Earlier, BJP president Amit Shah, elected to the Rajya Sabha, also resigned from the Assembly. He represented the Naranpura constituency in Ahmedabad.

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