House panel pumps brakes on report in middle of voting

NEW DELHI: A parliamentary committee Friday abruptly decided to defer the adoption of its report on a contentious bill – which seeks automatic removal of the Prime Minister, chief ministers and ministers from office if they are detained for 30 consecutive days on serious criminal charges – when its members were in the middle of voting on its five recommendations.Sources said two recommendations were already adopted by a majority vote when committee chairperson and BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi said consultation with more stakeholders was required and the draft report be kept pending, a proposal everyone agreed to and was unanimously approved.Two opposition members – Supriya Sule of NCP (SP) and Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM – had even submitted their dissents in anticipation that the committee, which has an overwhelming majority of BJP-headed NDA, was set to adopt the report. They withdrew their dissents following the unexpected turn of events. The draft report was circulated among members a week ago. “The joint parliamentary committee unanimously said that we needed more consultations with stakeholders. This is a national cause. There should be unanimity in thought and expression,” Sarangi told reporters.The rare development all but precludes the committee from tabling its report in Parliament’s session starting July 20, thus ruling out the possibility that govt can push for its passage in this session. Even some BJP members were of the view that there should be a rethink on some of its recommendations, sources said. Home secretary Govind Mohan earlier appeared before the panel to offer the ministry’s views on the members’ queries before they got down to take up its recommendations for adoption. The constitution amendment bill required a two-thirds majority for passage in Parliament, leaving govt to depend upon support from some opposition parties, almost all of whom have slammed its provisions as “unconstitutional” and allegedly aimed at targeting state govts run by them. All major opposition parties, including Congress and Samajwadi Party, had refused to be part of the committee. Sources said govt may have wanted to buy more time when it is busy reaching out to several opposition parties for supporting its politically more ambitious constitution amendment bill for raising the maximum strength of Lok Sabha seats from 543 to 850 and implementing one-third quota for women in the lower house and assemblies from 2029.