February 25th 2025.
In a recent development, 21 legislators from the Aam Aadmi Party were suspended from the Delhi Assembly by the Speaker for their unruly behavior. This is the largest number of lawmakers to face such a penalty in the past decade or so. S.K. Sharma, a former secretary of Lok Sabha and Delhi Assembly, pointed out that the main reason for this high number of suspensions is the lack of opposition legislators in the Assembly. With the AAP dominating the Assembly with their majority, the opposition's strength has been weakened.
Sharma further explained that 20 suspensions seem like a large number when compared to the past decade, where the maximum number of suspensions was only 8. This is because during this time, the BJP did not have more legislators than that. The 21 AAP legislators were suspended for causing disruption during the address of Lt Governor V.K. Saxena in the House. Sharma also mentioned that this kind of suspension of the entire opposition camp is not uncommon in a legislative body.
According to Sharma, this has been a common practice since 1993, when Madan Lal Khurana was the Chief Minister. He also added that usually, the Speaker does not name all the suspended legislators, but it is assumed that the entire opposition camp has been asked to leave. In fact, it is a parliamentary convention to suspend all opposition legislators who show solidarity with a colleague who has been asked to leave the House.
Sharma, who is credited with framing the rules and procedures of the Delhi Assembly, recalled that during the 49-day government of Arvind Kejriwal in 2013, the number of opposition MLAs was higher than the current 21. At that time, the BJP was in opposition with 31 legislators. However, in the past decade, the number of opposition legislators has been dwindling, with only 8 in 2015 and 3 in 2019.
Sharma criticized the AAP government for disregarding parliamentary practices and norms in the Delhi Assembly over the past decade. He reminisced about the days when being suspended from the House was considered an honorable feat for a legislator. During the tenure of Khurana as CM and Jag Pravesh Chandra as the Leader of Opposition between 1993 and 1998, there used to be healthy discussions and debates in the House. Fridays were reserved for private member bills, and opposition members were given the opportunity to present their views and record their dissent. However, all of this has been discontinued under Kejriwal's leadership.
Sharma, who has over five decades of experience in legislative proceedings, further added that under Kejriwal, the Delhi Assembly has become a platform for abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also pointed out that only the CM was allowed to speak in the House, silencing the voices of the opposition. However, he remains hopeful that under the new BJP government led by Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the Lt Governor, the practice of Question Hour, introduction of resolutions, and bills will be revived.
Sharma recalled an incident from his tenure as Secretary of Delhi Assembly, where a well-built Sikh legislator from the BJP had to be physically lifted and carried away by marshals on the Speaker's orders. He had to personally intervene and request the legislator to comply with the Speaker's direction. Sharma, who has conducted numerous training sessions for legislators in the past, hopes that the new government will work towards reviving the parliamentary traditions in the Delhi Assembly.
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