In a significant disciplinary action, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday expelled two of its senior Karnataka MLAs — S T Somashekar and A Shivaram Hebbar — from the party for a period of six years. The move comes after the party leadership found them guilty of repeated “anti-party activities.”

The decision was confirmed by Karnataka BJP president B Y Vijayendra, who stated that the expulsion was taken after extensive deliberations with the party high command. “The BJP will not tolerate indiscipline or actions that undermine the organisation. The high command, after thorough discussions, has decided to expel both Somashekar and Hebbar,” he told reporters.

S T Somashekar represents the Yeshwanthpur constituency, while A Shivaram Hebbar is the MLA from Yellapur.

The disciplinary action was formalised through an official letter issued by Om Pathak, Member Secretary of the BJP's Central Disciplinary Committee. The letter addressed to Hebbar cited violations of party discipline and confirmed his expulsion with immediate effect.

"Central Disciplinary Committee of the party has considered your response to the show cause notice dated 25th March 2025 and has taken serious note of your repeated violations of the party discipline," the letter read. "It has accordingly been decided to expel you for a period of six years with immediate effect from the primary membership of the party and you stand removed from any party position that you hold as of now."

Although the BJP has not officially specified the exact nature of the “anti-party activities,” party insiders suggest that the MLAs’ continued defiance of party directives and public criticism of leadership may have triggered the action.

Both Somashekar and Hebbar were formerly associated with the Congress and had joined the BJP during the political upheaval in Karnataka in 2019 that led to the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government.