Impasse continues in Upper House as Opposition insists on debate on Bihar poll roll revision

The proceedings of the Rajya Sabha adjourned on Monday without conducting any business as Opposition parties refused to toe the line and continued with their protest over the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The House adjourned for the day soon after it assembled to convene the business post lunch at 2 pm. It also witnessed two forced adjournments during the zero hour and the question hour due to the Opposition’s protest.

The opposition members had submitted 26 notices under Rule 267 of the Rules of Procedure seeking discussion on multiple issues.

A majority of these notices demanded a discussion on the SIR exercise in Bihar, while the TMC flagged the issue of alleged atrocities on Bengali-speaking people in other states.

Citing a previous ruling of the Chair, Deputy Chairman Harivansh rejected all adjournment notices and called nominated member Sudha Murty to make a mention on a matter related to public importance.

Rigid on their demand, the Opposition MPs came near the well of the House and raised slogans demanding a debate on the revision of electoral rolls in the poll-bound state.

Seeing the House was not in order, Harivansh adjourned the proceeding till noon. The din continued at noon, when the chair adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

As protests continued even at 2 pm, Harivansh adjourned the proceedings for the day. The House was scheduled to discuss the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill-2025 on Monday.

Earlier, two new AIADMK MPs from Tamil Nadu — M Dhanapal and IS Inbadura — took oath as Rajya Sabha members on Monday.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha too was adjourned thrice as the Opposition sought a discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral roll in Bihar.

Amid repeated adjournments, Speaker Om Birla admonished the opposition, who repeatedly stormed the well, asking them to stick to their promise of participating in the discussion on Operation Sindoor, which was decided upon last week during the meeting of the Lower House's Business Advisory Committee (BAC).

The discussion finally began at 2 pm when Rajnath Singh initiated the discussion on behalf of the Centre.