Hyderabad:
Ending the long suspense, the Andhra Pradesh assembly speaker on Friday disqualified 16 rebel lawmakers belonging to the ruling Congress party who were loyal to Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
The speaker has also accepted the resignation of another Jagan loyalist Shoba Nagi Reddy of Praja Rajyam Party (PRP).
A statement about the disqualification was released from the office of speaker Nandendla Manohar on Friday night.
Congress had sought the disqualification of the legislators for violating the party whip and voting in favour of opposition Telugu Desam Party's no-confidence motion against the government in the assembly last December.
With the speaker's move, 17 seats in 294-member house have fallen vacant. The election commission will now initiate the process to fill the vacancies by holding by-elections within six months.