Parliament Winter Session highlights: Both houses adjourned till 11 am on Thursday

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The Parliament on Wednesday witnessed debates on the ongoing issue of SIR and ‘Vande Mataram’ in the two houses. While the leaders discussed ‘Vande Mataram’ in the Upper House, the debate in the Lok Sabha focused on the ongoing SIR issue.

The last speech in Lok Sabha was addressed by Home Minister Amit Shah who tore into the opposition over Congress' ‘vote chori’ claims and attacked the party's leadership for poll losses.

Here is a highlights of Amit Shah's speech:

• Shah alleged that the opposition wanted to keep the "avaidh ghuspathiye' in the voter list and hence the SIR issue was raised, but the Narendra Modi government's policy is clear -- detect all aliens, delete their names from the voters list and throw them out of the country.
• Shah also claimed that there were three instances of "vote chori" by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
• "Post Independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was backed by 28 persons, while Jawaharlal Nehru was supported by two persons and yet Nehru became the prime minister, this was vote chori," he said.
• Shah said the second "vote chori" was done by Indira Gandhi, when she granted herself immunity after the court set aside her election.
• He said the dispute of the third "vote chori" has just reached the civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi “became a voter before becoming a citizen of India”.
• Meanwhile, the Congress hit out at Shah, questioning why would someone give such “a long clarification if he is innocent.”

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Opposition parties are worried because they can no longer win elections by corrupt practices and claimed that the reason for Congress' defeat in polls was its leadership and not EVMs or "vote chori".

Intervening in a debate on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Shah alleged that the Opposition is raising the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to keep "avaidh ghuspathiye (illegal immigrants)" in the voters' list.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi, while speaking of the opposition walkout, said, “For two days, a very important discussion was happening, where both the ruling parties, and the opposition parties were putting their points... We thought that after listening to Opposition leaders, the Home Minister will answer, but we felt that he was given a script, he was reading it out, the important questions that was put by Rahul Gandhi, Akhilesh Yadav, Kalyan Banerjee, Maran ji, Supriya Sule ji, we thought that he will answer, but he was reading a written script.”

Parliament Winter Session live update: While speaking of the Opposition leaders walkout from the Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, "You should have seen the response of Home Minister, it was totally a defensive response, and what points we raised, he did not answer... I had said two-three things, I had asked for transparent voter list, he did not say a word, I had asked for sharing EVM architecture, he did not say a word... The CEC has been given full immunity..."

Parliament Winter Session live update: The Lok Sabha was adjourned shortly after Amit Shah concluded his speech, where he attacked the opposition, especially Congress, on infiltration, SIR and ‘vote chori’ claims.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at the opposition walkout with ‘ghuspaithiya’ jibe, saying that the opposition parties walked out as soon as he started speaking of removing infiltrators. "They walked out because of 'ghuspaithiya' because our policy is "detect, delete and deport." Their policy is to normalise infiltration, register them and then put them in voters' list to normalise," Shah said in Lok Sabha.

Parliament Winter Session live update: The opposition on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Lok Sabha, protesting home minister Amit Shah’s speech during the debate.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the Congress has not made any suggestions to the Election Commission on poll reforms since May 2014. “After Narendra Modi government came into power, Congress didn't send any suggestion to the Election Commission so far,” Shah said in Lok Sabha.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday took a jibe at the Congress over its electoral losses, saying the party's leadership was to blame for its losses and not the EVM. While speaking in Lok Sabha, Shah said, "You took out "vote chori" issues during your poll rallies in Bihar, still you lost the election. The reason behind your loss is your leadership, it's not EVM or the voter list…May I go wrong, but Congress workers will one day seek explanation on how you lost so many polls."

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday lashed out at the opposition over its ‘vote chori’ claims. Hitting out at the Congress, Shah said that the NDA alliance won 3 Lok Sabha polls since 2014, along with 41 state polls. He added that the Congress won 30 state polls during the last 11 years, questioning how the party won the poll if the elections were rigged.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at Congress citing a Delhi court notice over Sonia Gandhi allegedly voting in India before becoming a citizen. "Dispute of third "vote chori" has just reached civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming citizen of India," Amit Shah said.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi hit back at Amit Shah over his attack, saying the Home Minister's response was "defensive and a frightened one." "This was a frightened response. This is not the true response," Rahul Gandhi said. In his response, Amit Shah said, "I will speak on my subject. I will not go with his provocations."

Shah further said, "I only said that I will decide what I have to speak. I will decide what I have to speak first and what to speak next."

Parliament Winter Session live update: The Lok Sabha on Wednesday witnessed a heated exchange between Home Minister Amit Shah and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over latter's 'voter fraud' claims in Haryana and Bihar. Amit Shah, while speaking on SIR said, “The Leader of the Opposition tells me to first respond to his questions. The Parliament won't function as per your wishes. I will decide what to speak. The Parliament won't function in this way. He should have the patience to listen to my answers,” Amit Shah said.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday hit back at Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remarks on SIR, claiming there are 19 lakh fake voters in Haryana. “He (Amit Shah) talked about Haryana. He cited one example. There are several other examples. There are 19 lakh fake voters there. Actually, let us have a debate on my press conference,” Rahul Gandhi said.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister, while speaking in Lok Sabha, said, “In Bihar, one voter is 34-year-old, but it was shown as 124-year-old. It is true that her age was mentioned as 124-year-old. Later, Minta Devi clarified that she had submitted an online application and the details entered were incorrect, which led to the issue.”

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday hit out at Rahul Gandhi over his voter fraud claims in Haryana. “Rahul Gandhi said there are 501 votes in a single house in Haryana. The EC clarified it saying that House 265 is not a small house and one family is spread over one acre. The house doesn't have a number and three generations have been living in the house. They are neither fake house, not fraud voters,” Amit Shah said in Lok Sabha.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union home minister Amit Shah said that the first SIR was conducted under first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1952. Shah said several SIRs were held under the Congress governments, including that of Nehru and Indira Gandhi, in 1957, 1961, 1965-66, 1983-84. He further said that the EC is conducting SIR as it is its constitutional mandate.

Parliament Winter Session live update: While hitting the Opposition during the debate on SIR in Lok Sabha, Amit Shah said that the opposition, especially the Congress created an impression that the government was not ready for debate. He, however, added that the BJP-led NDA never shies away from debate.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Union Home Minister Amit Shah is speaking in the Lok Sabha on the ongoing SIR exercise. While speaking in Lok Sabha on SIR, the minister said, “The debate on SIR cannot happen in Parliament. Because the issue is with the Election Commission. The Election Commission doesn't work with the government.”

Parliament Winter Session live update: While speaking of the ongoing debate on ‘Vande Mataram’ Rajya Sabha MP Kartikeya Sharma said, "The way our government has encouraged the tradition of respecting the National Anthem in cinema halls and schools, I believe, as a Member of Parliament, we should also establish a tradition of singing Vande Mataram before starting any session in Parliament. This will send a message to MPs and others to respect and feel connected to Vande Mataram, beginning our day with it.”

Parliament Winter Session live update: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday hit out at the BJP, saying the whole aim of the debate on 150 years of Vande Mataram was to malign first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Participating in the debate in the Rajya Sabha, he accused the BJP of insulting freedom fighters who sacrificed their lives for the country. "Those who have spoken from the other side have proved... they wanted to be historians, but they have become 'distorions'," Ramesh said.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Congress MP Imran Masood on Wednesday hit out at the government and the Election Commission over the SIR and recently held mayoral polls in Saharanpur, accusing the police of brutality against voters from Muslim and Dalit communities. He demanded that the elections be conducted using ballots.

Parliament Winter Session live update: Sheikh Abdul Rashid, alias Engineer Rashid, while speaking in the Lok Sabha lauded the Election Commission for conducting a “free and fair election” in the valley.

Parliament Winter Session live update: BJP MP Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday said in Lok Sabha that PM Narendra Modi does not need to manipulate voting systems to win elections because “he has hacked the hearts of the people". Ranaut said the past year had been “deeply worrying” because of what she described as daily disruptions by opposition members. She said watching them often felt “traumatic”, adding that MPs had repeatedly “jumped into the Well, shouted ‘SIR, SIR’, created a spectacle, tried intimidation and misbehaved in every possible way”.