UP special session: Maintaining quorum poses challenge in Vidhan Parishad

Maintaining quorum in the 100 member-Uttar Pradesh legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) amid empty Opposition benches posed a challenge as the bicameral legislature’s

Maintaining quorum in the 100 member-Uttar Pradesh legislative council (Vidhan Parishad) amid empty Opposition benches posed a challenge as the bicameral legislature’s first-ever 36-hour special session to mark the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi began here on Wednesday.

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The Samajwadi Party, the Bahujan Samajwadi Party and the Congress all abstained from the special session.

The absence of the Opposition, which is often quite noisy, can make the entire proceedings lacklustre in any legislative chamber.

Only members of the treasury benches, non-political teachers’ group and the independent group took part in the debate.

Even the ruling party members were seen leaving and joining the House frequently. By around 2pm, the presence of the members fell below the required quorum of 11.

The situation prompted the chair to repeatedly announce that members could go for lunch one by one only.

Earlier, the special session began with a proposal for the adoption of a resolution by the government to achieve the 17 sustainable development goals, including eradication of poverty and hunger by 2030 as propounded by the United Nations.

Leader of the house and deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma enumerated the steps taken by the Central and the state governments to realise Mahatma Gandhi’s dreams. He regretted the Opposition was not there in the House to make the discussion even more lively.

BJP ally Apna Dal (S) member Ashish Patel gave an hour-long speech on how Bapu and his teachings were relevant in the modern time.

Normally, the chair is often seen asking them to cut their point short to allow other members to speak. But this was an entirely different situation today when there was no hurry and time was abundant. The chair was, instead, seen nudging members to speak more since the special session has to run for 36 hours without a break. Even some ministers, who otherwise represent the lower house, were allowed to present their views in the upper house.

Taking the opposition to task for their boycott, deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma said the session was convened with the prior consent of the Opposition leaders who even participated in the meetings called for the purpose.

“But the Opposition chose to politicise Gandhiji also,” he said, adding, “When the history will be written in golden words about the UP government calling the first-even continuous session to discuss development goals, the Opposition will get its place in it only for boycotting a historic moment.”

Leader of the Opposition Ahmad Hasan was not available for comment despite repeated attempts to reach him.