Chaos in Parliament and Bihar Assembly Over Sir is Just the Beginning
Dr. Gyan Pathak
Both the Houses of the Parliament of India – Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha – and the Legislative Assembly of Bihar witnessed total chaos on Wednesday July 23 due to which they had to be adjourned. The Opposition members in the Parliament of India were protesting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Electoral Roll in Bihar and demanding a discussion on it, while in the Legislative Assembly of Bihar, discussion began but when the Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav was speaking, Chief Minister became angry and intervened leading to adjournment. Nevertheless, the chaos that is witnessed in the legislatures from Bihar to New Delhi, are just the beginning, and a bigger socio-political turmoil is in the making in Bihar.
Only two days ahead of the deadline of July 25 given by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for submission of elector enumeration forms and the document, a prospect of deletion of over 7 million voters form the electoral roll has emerged. ECI has said the over 52.23 lakh names have already been deleted, while 21.35 lakh voters are yet to submit their enumeration forms. The Opposition have been more concerned about it since they believe that the deletion would impact their political prospect, and will secure a win for the BJP.
No wonder, as soon as the proceedings of both the Houses of Parliament began, the Opposition started protesting against SIR. Both the Houses had to be adjourned for an hour minutes after their commencing. They reconvened at 12 PM but the continued protest and sloganeering led to adjournment till 2 PM. Protesting legislators were demanding a special discussion on SIR ahead of Assembly Election in Bihar in October/November 2025.
Deputy Chairman Harivansh Singh of the Rajya Sabha informed the House that he had received 25 notices from the Opposition members under Rule 267 demanding discussion on SIR. Nevertheless, he rejected all notices which led to even more louder protests in the House. It was only yesterday, the Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice President of India Jagdeep Dhankhar had accepted certain motion moved by the opposition, which led to his losing confidence of the PM Narendra Modi led government, and his resignation afterwards.
The threat to parliamentary democracy is obvious, a scenario, in which the presiding officers of the Legislative Houses, seem to be under absolute political control of PM Narendra Modi. Under the rule, Dhankhar had no option but to accept two Opposition’s motion for consideration which cost him his vice-presidency. No wonder, in this immediate background the opposition’s notices were rejected by the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
SIR is also labelled as the threat to parliamentary democracy by the Opposition, since it seeks to delete large number of voters from the voter list, but shifting onus of disproving citizenship form the Union Ministry of Home Affairs to the citizens of India to prove their citizenship. ECI has been alleged to be under political control of PM Narendra Modi, and working on his behalf for a voter list manipulation in his of his party BJP’s favour. Dhankhar’s exit has alarmed the Opposition, how a threat of impeachment can bend a constitutional body or official. The protest of the opposition against SIR is thus seen as an effort to save the parliamentary democracy in India.
The Lok Sabha also witnessed strong protest on SIR with a demand to have discussion on it due to which the Speaker Om Birla had to adjourn the house.
In the Legislative Assembly of Bihar, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar whose JD(U) is an ally of BJP in the NDA, took exception to the statement of the Leader of the Opposition RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav on SIR. Tejashwi was not allowed to speak amidst ruckus created by the ruling establishment and the Speaker Nand Kishor Yadav had adjourned the House till 2 PM.
Though Bihar CM Nitish Kumar is overtly supporting SIR, his party’s leaders are not happy with the exercise. One JD(U) MP has said that it has been enforced on them.
Why every political party, both in opposition INDIA block and NDA are unhappy over SIR? The reason is obvious. The deletion of voters will impact their political fortunes, and only BJP will be benefited.
As of now, on an average over 8700 voters are likely to be deleted from voter list in every constituency, especially those who are unable to submit their elector forms.
Signs of a socio-political turmoil in Bihar have begun to emerge and the chaos will be far more tumultuous than what has been witnessed in the legislatures.
The Supreme Court of India will be hearing the case on July 28. ECI, in spite of SC’s suggestion, has refused to accept Aadhaar, Ration card, and voter photo identity card as proof of citizenship, and demanding 11 such documents that many people don’t have. (IPA Service)
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