Opposition mustering strength to challenge Delhi ordinance
The bill will replace the Delhi ordinance that hands control of the national capital’s bureaucratic machinery to the Centre
Jharkhand’s first chief minister and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MP in Rajya Sabha, Shibu Soren, who has not been keeping well these days, has arrived in Delhi with his caregivers.
At the INDIA allies’ meeting on Thursday, the Congress party informed allies that it is trying to bring to the House former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, 90, who is not regular in his attendance in the Upper House.
And Janata Dal (United)’s Rajya Sabha floor leader Aneel Prasad Hegde said on Thursday that one of its MPs, Bashistha Narain Singh, is unwell, “but he himself has said that he will come to the House next week.”
These measures to squeeze in every possible vote from the Opposition benches underlines how the parties that formed the INDIA alliance in Bengaluru on July 18 want to confront the NDA over The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.
The bill, expected to be discussed in the Rajya Sabha next week, will replace the Delhi ordinance that hands control of the national capital’s bureaucratic machinery to the Centre.
But the government still appears to have the numbers it needs.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O’Brien wrote a letter to Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday seeking an informal one-day notice to the Opposition before the government brings the bill.
“If this bill springs up in the List of Business, there will be no way to ensure that there is enough opportunity for thorough debate and scrutiny of this very important legislation. Also, it will not allow all parties to ensure that ALL members (including those with serious medical conditions restricted to a stretcher or wheelchair and have to be transported by ambulance from hospital or residence) are present in Rajya Sabha on that day. An informal one-day notice will be appreciated so that we can bring these members to the chamber for voting,” he wrote in the letter.
To be sure, the government has the prerogative to bring a bill through a supplementary list of business in a House, taking the Opposition by surprise. A supplementary item usually comes without prior notice as against the list of business which is notified on the previous evening. In 2019, for instance, the government brought the resolution to scrap Article 370 in J&K and the bill to bifurcate the state into two Union Territories without any prior notice.
The government is likely to find the numbers to have the The Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 cleared in both Houses of Parliament. While in the Lower House, the government enjoys a massive majority, in the Upper House, the government is likely to get support from at least 123 MPs while 109 MPs are expected to vote against the bill as things stand. This includes nine members of the YSRCP, which said they will back the bill. The BJD too has nine MPs in the Rajya Sabha but is yet to reveal its strategy.
To be sure, bills can also be passed through a simple voice vote if there is a din in the House.