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Winter session ends with Oppn crying foul
The Delhi Assembly's winter session ended on a stormy note with the opposition accusing the government and the speaker of breaking norms and running the legislature without a quorum.
The Delhi Assembly's winter session ended on a stormy note with the opposition accusing the government and the speaker of breaking norms and running the legislature without a quorum.
The session had been chaotic throughout, with the BJP members demanding a House panel to probe alleged corruption in the Commonwealth Games expenditure.
On Friday, the entire opposition was expelled for three sittings after the House failed to function amid loud protests and sloganeering.
But some BJP members, who returned to the House on Wednesday, were unrelenting. Seven BJP MLAs, including Ramesh Bidhuri and Anil Jha, were again expelled after a chaotic question hour.
Leader of the Opposition VK Malhotra registered his protest over the functioning of the House and the passing of motions in the absence of a quorum of 23 members on Monday.
He said it was the duty of the speaker to discontinue proceedings in the absence of a quorum. Speaker Yoganand Shastri said for suspending the House in the absence of a quorum, a member present in the House has to notify the chair, but this did not happen.
The sitting lasted an hour after the special mention under rule 280 was skipped and the Delhi Prevention of Touting and Malpractices against Tourists Bill, 2010 was passed to replace an ordinance promulgated by the Lieutenant-Governor October 1.
Speaking after the session, Malhotra said the BJP MLAs were kept out of the House for three days "illegally and unconstitutionally".
He said, "The speaker is entitled to admit a resolution for expulsion only after the members concerned are named, but this did not happen on Friday. "The opposition was kept out on all seven days and the ruling party misused the House to attack the Lieutenant Governor and the MCD," Malhotra said.
The BJP also submitted a notice on breach of privilege against chief minister Sheila Dikshit and MLA Mukesh Sharma to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat alleging violation of conduct rules for commenting on the Lieutenant Governor in the House.
Malhotra said the motion had been admitted on Wednesday.
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