Congress Considers Motion to Remove VP Dhankhar

by The_unmuteenglish

New Delhi, 10 December 2024: The Congress-led INDIA bloc is considering a motion to remove Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who also serves as the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, citing his alleged partisan conduct in the Upper House.

A senior Congress source said that the party is drafting a resolution, with opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha being mobilized to support it, Tribune reported.

The move follows yet another disrupted day in the Rajya Sabha, where proceedings were adjourned amid a heated exchange between BJP and Congress MPs. The ruckus erupted after BJP lawmakers accused a senior Congress leader of having ties with Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, a claim the Congress vehemently denied.

During the session, Chairman Dhankhar allowed BJP MPs, led by Leader of the House J.P. Nadda, to speak on the issue. This decision was met with resistance from Congress, which accused the chair of aligning with the BJP’s agenda. “The chair is party to the BJP conspiracy,” Congress leaders claimed.

The opposition plans to introduce the motion under Article 67(B) of the Constitution, which allows for the removal of the Vice-President by a resolution in the Rajya Sabha. The resolution would require approval by an effective majority in the Upper House and a simple majority in the Lok Sabha.

Although the opposition holds a minority in the Lok Sabha, where the resolution is unlikely to pass, INDIA bloc leaders argue that the motion would serve to underscore their allegations of Dhankhar’s bias.

With recent by-elections altering the composition of the Rajya Sabha, the effective strength of the Upper House now stands at 234 MPs. The ruling NDA holds 119 seats, including 96 BJP MPs and 6 nominated members who generally support the government in votes. The opposition, with 90 MPs, remains a significant minority.

In August, the opposition made a similar attempt to remove Dhankhar, but it was not pursued further. The Congress now faces a time crunch, as the rules stipulate that such a motion requires a 14-day notice and the signatures of 50 MPs. With only 8 working days left in the current session, the opposition is uncertain whether they can meet this requirement.

“This is a grey area – whether the 14 days should be counted over two consecutive sessions or within a single session,” a Congress source noted. Notably, no motion to remove a Vice-President has been attempted in recent history.

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