Indian Parliament sets record on member suspension

Kathmandu, 19 Dec: Indian Parliament on Monday has witnessed record breaking suspension of its Members belonging to opposition- 33 from Lok Sabha and 45 from Rajya Sabha, according to Indian Media.

With 14 suspended last week, a total of MPs suspended reached as high as 92.

“Till now, the highest number of MPs suspended in a single day was on March 15, 1989, when 63 Opposition members were suspended from Lok Sabha over tabling of the inquiry commission report on the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi,” said Indian Express.

MPs suspended upon disturbing House proceedings include senior leaders like Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK’s T R Baalu and Dayanidhi Maran, and TMC’s Saugata Roy form Lok Sabha while Congress’s Pramod Tiwari, Jairam Ramesh, K C Venugopal and Randeep Singh Surjewala, and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadad from Rajya Sabha, it added.

Indian National Congress labelled the suspension as an attack on Parliament and democracy alleged the government wanting to bulldoze important Bills in an Opposition-less Parliament. On the contrary the incumbent ruling Party BJP, alleged a pre-planned strategy to block important Bills and accused Congress and its allies of insulting the Lok Sabha Speaker and Rajya Sabha Chairperson, as noted in Indian Express.