New Delhi, March 28 Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar walked out of a Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting on Friday, citing a "lack of decorum", sources said. However, opposition members claimed the walkout was due to sharp differences between them and the ruling party over issues to be discussed in the House, sources added.
The sources in the opposition camp said that the Chairman left mid-meeting due to disagreements between ruling and opposition MPs regarding the demand for a discussion on "duplicate" voter ID numbers (EPIC) and the need to send bills for scrutiny by parliamentary committees.
But Rajya Sabha sources pointed out that the EPIC issue was not brought up in the meeting. According to them, Dhankhar's departure was prompted by both government and opposition members' firm stances on these matters, which hindered any progress.
The BAC meeting was convened to outline the business of the Upper House for the upcoming week. Opposition leaders expressed frustration over the government's refusal to set aside time for debates on key issues, such as the EPIC card issue, the situation in Manipur, and the scrutiny of bills. Despite submitting notices for discussions on these matters daily, opposition MPs claimed no time had been allocated for such debates, further escalating tensions between the two sides.
In response, the opposition reiterated their willingness to be flexible on the rules governing the discussion of the EPIC issue and the wording of the notice but insisted that the topic be debated in Parliament. The Trinamool Congress, which has been persistently raising the EPIC card issue, warned that protests would follow if the matter was not taken up in the House.
In fact, the issue of duplication of EPICs had been flagged by West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). Lok Sabha MPs of Trinamool Congress had recently raised the issue of duplicate electoral photo identity cards and sought a complete revision of the rolls, even as the BJP accused the Trinamool government of West Bengal of enrolling Bangladeshi Muslims and Rohingyas in the state's electoral roll.
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