Partisan: Opposition gives notice for no-trust vote against Dhankhar

A fractured Opposition on Tuesday united to submit a notice to move a motion of no-confidence against Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, accusing him of bias in the conduct of House proceedings. This is the first such notice against an RS Chairman since the constitution of the Upper House on April 3, 1952.

Opposition short of numbers

231 effective strength of Rajya Sabha after recent byelections

112 MPs belong to the ruling NDA (95 from the BJP alone)

6 nominated MPs to side with govt in case of vote, taking NDA strength to 118, two more than the simple majority of 116

85 is combined Opposition strength, including 27 MPs from Cong

If motion is moved, Opposition needs simple majority to get it passed

Congress bid to hide misdeeds: Rijiju

• Union minister Kiren Rijiju said the notice was meant to hide Congress misdeeds and its “links” with George Soros
• It would fail as majority have full faith in Dhankhar, he said

“All parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the RS Chairman for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States,” Congress chief whip in the RS Jairam Ramesh said.

The resolution mentions that the position of the RS Chairman is of pivotal importance but “Chairman Dhankhar had reduced the prestige of the position he occupies to that of a spokesman for the government of the day”. The notice was condemned by the government, which said it had been brought by the Congress to “deflect attention from the party’s top brass links with Hungarian-American businessman George Soros and his anti-India agenda”.

“The NDA has the majority. This notice which the Congress has brought to hide its sins and deflect attention from the connection between itself and George Soros and his anti-India actions will never succeed. We are proud of Chairman Dhankhar, who comes from a humble farming background and has always espoused the cause of the poor,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said after the Congress-led INDIA bloc parties piloted the move. Signed by 60 opposition MPs of the Rajya Sabha, the notice complete with a resolution mentioning the rationale for moving it was submitted to RS Secretary-General PC Mody today. The signatories included MPs from the Congress, TMC, AAP, RJD, Samajwadi Party, DMK and the Left. Congress president and Leader of Opposition in the RS Mallikarjun Kharge and senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi did not sign.

The notice moved under Article 67(b) of the Constitution requires signatures of at least 50 MPs. “Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least 14 days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution,” the Article says. The resolution of the Opposition will be considered by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh, with sections of the Opposition admitting to possibilities of rejection on technical grounds.

“The motion requires a 14-day notice. The current winter session has eight sittings left. The motion can be rejected on technical grounds unless the Deputy Chairman counts sittings of this and the next session,” a Congress leader said. Additionally, the Opposition does not have the numbers to carry the motion but it said the move was made in the interests of parliamentary democracy.

The resolution states that the conduct of the RS Chairman on December 9, 2024, was particularly one-side and unfair and that he “encouraged and provoked Treasury Benches to make outrageous remarks”.

On Monday, Dhankhar had, without prior notice by the BJP, allowed its MPs, including House leader JP Nadda, to accuse veteran Congress leader (Sonia Gandhi who was not named) of conspiring with Hungarian-American business George Soros to “destabilize” India.

The Opposition in its resolution against the VP also alleged that the term of Dhankhar had been rife with instances where he acted in a manner that was explicitly partisan and unfair towards members of the Opposition. The signatories said the VP had once described himself as “Eklavya of the RSS and such remarks were unbecoming of the non-partisan nature of his position”.