New Delhi:

The no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition against Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar has been rejected by the deputy chairman on Thursday on the grounds that a 14-day notice was not given and Mr Dhankhar’s name was not spelt correctly.

Deputy Chairman Harivansh noted that the motion was brought to create a narrative against the person holding the second-highest constitutional post in the country, sources said. He pointed out that a joint press conference was also held to create a narrative against the Vice President, they added.

Laying out the reasons for the rejection, Mr Harivansh said a 14-day notice, which is mandatory to move such a motion, was not given. Mr Dhankhar’s name, he said, was also not spelt correctly. One protocol that was followed correctly, however, was getting the motion signed by 60 MPs when it was moved last week. 

This is the first time in the history of the Rajya Sabha that a motion to remove the Chairman was moved. The INDIA bloc has alleged that Mr Dhankhar has been functioning in a partisan manner and this was exacerbated during this winter session of Parliament, which has seen repeated face-offs between the Opposition and the ruling party.

The Congress was left fuming after BJP MPs were allowed to record speeches about alleged links between Sonia Gandhi and billionaire George Soros by Mr Dhankhar, who had rejected earlier notices to discuss the issue. The no-trust motion was moved soon after this.

The motion, submitted under Article 67(B) of the Constitution, was also backed by the Samajwadi Party, the Trinamool Congress and the AAP, which have disagreed with the Congress several times during this parliamentary session. 

The 14-day rule is mentioned in the Article, which states, a “Vice President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution.”

Opposition parties, some of which had already said that they knew they did not have the numbers to get the no-confidence motion passed and it was largely a symbolic move to register their protest against Mr Dhankhar and get him to correct his alleged partisan approach, will now have to decide whether they want to introduce a similar motion during the next session of Parliament. The current session will end on Friday.

‘Pained’

After the motion was moved, Mr Dhankhar had said he was “personally pained” that the Congress was running a “campaign” against him and asserted that, as the son of a farmer, he would not show weakness.

“I am personally pained that the main opposition party has been running a blitz, a campaign against the Chairman. They have the constitutional right to move a motion against me, but they are deviating from the constitutional provisions. Day in and day out, a campaign is going on against the Chairman. I have studied what is happening in the public domain,” he had said last week.

“Why can’t we follow the Constitution? You gave a notice, which we received, and you asked in your press conference what happened to the notice? Giving an impression that the Chairman is sitting on the notice… Read the law, your motion will come up after 14 days,” he added.

New Delhi:

Facing a no-trust motion, Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Friday said he was “personally pained” that the Congress was running a “campaign” against him and asserted that, as the son of a farmer, he would not show weakness. 

Speaking amid an uproar in the House, the Vice President said its functioning is necessary for the nation and society and made an appeal to Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge to speak to him in his chamber with an open mind.

“I am personally pained that the main opposition party has been running a blitz, a campaign against the Chairman. They have the constitutional right to move a motion against me, but they are deviating from the constitutional provisions. Day in and day out, a campaign is going on against the Chairman. I have studied what is happening in the public domain. Why can’t we follow the Constitution? You gave a notice, which we received, and you asked in your press conference what happened to the notice? Giving an impression that the Chairman is sitting on the notice… Read the law, your motion will come up after 14 days,” Mr Dhankhar said. 

Emphasising his farmer roots, the Vice President said, “I am the son of a farmer, I will not show any weakness. I will die for the country. You will not introspect… for 24 hours a day, your only work is asking how the son of a farmer is occupying this post… The campaign is not against me, but the category to which I belong.”

The Rajya Sabha Chairman then appealed to Mr Kharge and the Leader of the House JP Nadda to meet him in his chambers.

“Mr Kharge, come with an open mind, communicate with me in my chamber… We will work together, try to break the deadlock. We will try to meet the highest standards that are expected from this august House by the entire country. Let’s meet in my chamber and find a way out, we will move forward,” he said.

Rajya Sabha Adjourned

During his exchange with Mr Dhankhar, Congress President Kharge accused the Rajya Sabha Chairman of not respecting him. “When the Chairman does not respect me, how can I respect him?” he remarked. 

Responding to Mr Dhankhar’s comment that he was a farmer’s son, Mr Kharge pointed out that he came from humble roots too. 

“If you are a farmer’s son, I am a farmer-labourer’s son. You are insulting us and our party members.” he said. 

Amid the chaos, the Rajya Sabha was adjourned and will meet again on Monday. 

The confidence motion against Mr Dhankhar is backed by at least 60 opposition MPs, including those from the Congress, Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress, and the AAP, which are all part of the INDIA bloc. Some members of the alliance, which does not have the numbers to get the motion passed, have said that it is a largely symbolic move to ensure that their opposition to Mr Dhankhar’s “partisan approach” is heard. 

New:

Parties belonging to the INDIA bloc are likely to back a Congress no-confidence motion against Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar alleging partisan functioning in the Upper House, sources have said. Sources said all the INDIA bloc parties — including Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and Akhilesh Yadav’s Samajwadi Party that do not see eye to eye with the Congress – are expected to sign the motion. 

The parties will be moving the motion under Article 67(B) of the Constitution. 

The Opposition has been at odds with the Rajya Sabha chairman over multiple issues. Matters came to a head today when the BJP members accused top Congress leaders of colluding with billionaire investor George Soros to destabilise the country.

When Mr Dhankhar asked why the ruling party members were protesting, many BJP MPs alleged that the top Congress leadership has links with Soros. They demanded that the issue be discussed in the House as it is connected to national security. 

Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and other Congress leaders like Jairam Ramesh and Pramod Tiwari questioned how the chairman was allowing the ruling party members to raise the issue when he had rejected their notices seeking discussion on various subjects.

Both Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned shortly amid the chaos. For the Rajya Sabha, it was the third adjournment of the day, following which Mr Dhankhar called the Leader of the House and the Leader of the Opposition to his chamber to resolve the logjam. 

“The purpose of that meeting was to ensure that the House runs smoothly. Both sides had a frank discussion and they signalled two things. One, that integrity, and sovereignty of the nation are sacred for us. We cannot allow any forces within the country or outside to ruin our unity, our integrity and our sovereignty,” Mr Dhankhar later said.

A second meeting will be held at 10.30 am on Tuesday.
 

France is facing a critical moment as lawmakers vote on a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Michel Barnier’s government. This vote is likely to have significant implications for the country’s political and economic stability.

Kolkata:

The BJP on Thursday filed a no-confidence motion against Speaker Biman Bandopadhyay in the West Bengal Assembly.

The proposal signed by as many as 50 BJP legislators was handed over to the Assembly secretary, Sukumar Roy in the afternoon. A team of BJP MLAs led by the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari went to the office of Sukumar Ray and handed over the proposal.

Last year too, BJP’s legislative team moved a similar no-confidence motion against the Speaker on the floor of the House and sought discussion on the matter. However, then, the motion was not admitted by the Speaker.

BJP insiders said that in the proposal handed over to the Assembly secretary, the party’s legislative team has highlighted 18 points on why Bandopadhyay should be removed as the Speaker of the House.

The main allegation is that any motion moved by the opposition, however of public interest that might be, is always dismissed by the Speaker. The BJP accused the Speaker of allowing the ruling Trinamool Congress legislators to move many motions even though their subjects were not directly related to the Assembly proceedings.

Later speaking to the media persons, Adhikari said that the Speaker was violating the constitutional provisions by all means. “He is acting on behalf of a particular political party sitting on the Chair of the Speaker which is supposed to be unbiased. He is always trying to suppress the voices of the opposition. He does not allow us to speak on crucial issues on the floor of the House. So we have submitted a no-confidence motion against him to the Assembly secretary,” Adhikari said.

Trinamool Congress leadership ridiculed this move of BJP and claimed that the LoP was resorting to such gimmicks just to maintain his own as well as his party’s relevance.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)