Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury among 33 Opposition members suspended from Lok Sabha

New Delhi, December 18

Amid continuous protests in the Lok Sabha by Opposition members seeking Home Minister Amit Shah’s response on the security breach incident in Parliament, as many as 30 Opposition MPs, including leader of the Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee, DMK’s T R Baalu, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran, were suspended for the remainder of the Winter Session, after being named by the Chair.

In addition to this, three opposition Congress members—V. Vasanth, Abdul Khaleque and K Jeya Kumar—were referred to the Privileges Committee. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi informed that the three members will remain suspended till the report of the committee is received.

All the MPs were suspended for unruly behaviour and for carrying placards and banners in the House, despite warnings by the Speaker.

These suspensions were in addition to the 13 Lok Sabha MPs, who were suspended last week, while one MP, Derek O’Brien, was suspended from the Rajya Sabha.

Meanwhile amid the chaos, the Post Office Bill, 2023, was passed by the Lok Sabha after a short discussion.

Concerns have been raised about the Bill paving the way for the interception of mail and exempting India Post from liability for lapses in service, except for the liability prescribed by the Central Government itself.

Section 9 of the proposed legislation allows the Central Government to empower any officer to intercept, open, or detain mail in the interest of the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, emergency, public safety or on contravention of the law.

Earlier in the morning, the Question Hour and Zero Hour proceedings were washed out amid protests by Opposition MPs.