Two-day Delhi Assembly meet from today, fireworks likely

The Delhi services law and the recent floods in Delhi are expected to be among the issues that will be discussed during the special session.

A two-day special session of the Delhi assembly is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party likely to raise the issue of the recently enacted Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Act, 2023, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party is geared up to question the government on various issues, including the alleged mismanagement of the recent floods, and the reconstruction of chief minister Arvind Kejriwal’s official bungalow.

According to officials aware of the Assembly schedule, the House will begin at 11am with obituary references, following which the members will be able to raise matters under Rule 280 with the permission of the chair. (PTI Photo)

The Delhi assembly has 70 members — 62 from the AAP, and eight from the BJP.

According to officials aware of the Assembly schedule, the House will begin at 11am with obituary references, following which the members will be able to raise matters under Rule 280 with the permission of the chair. Rule 280 (special mention) is a device for legislation to draw the attention of the government to issues relating to their constituency, or other developments.

After this, the officials said, minister Atishi will lay various papers on the table, including a notification regarding the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (Business Plan) Regulations, 2023.

On the eve of the session, BJP legislators, at a joint press conference, accused the AAP of undermining democracy. “Over the last three years, BJP MLAs have been marshalled out or suspended from the Assembly 35 times in 16 sessions. The ruling AAP has stifled Opposition voices by preventing discussions on notices raised by BJP legislators. This time also, no question hour has been included in the session because the government does not want to answer questions,” said Leader of Opposition Ramvir Singh Bidhuri.

He added that BJP MLAs have given a notice for a short duration discussion on 12 “scams” under Rule 55, which allows legislators to draw the attention of the government to matters of urgent public importance. “We have drawn a list of 12 scams and we want a discussion on all these scams such as the bungalow scam, panic button scam, feedback unit scam, excise scam, among others,” said Bidhuri.

Meanwhile, speaker Ram Niwas Goel said that BJP MLAs are given more time to speak in the House than the ruling party members. “...but rather than discussing the issues, they start disrupting the functioning of the House. I have called them to my office to urge them to let the House function, but they do not help in its smooth running,” he said.“Questions related to police, land, and services were earlier answered in the House, but now questions related to land, services, DDA, revenue are not submitted by the officers. In such a situation, what is the point of including the question hour?”