Disruptions over SIR row cost Rajya Sabha 51 hours: Harivansh

DIsruptions caused by a stalemate betwixt the regime and the oppositeness o'er the latter’s exact for a discussion on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar have cost the Rajya Sabha 51.5 hours during the ongoing monsoon session, Upper House deputy chairperson Harivansh said on Thursday.Urging members to allow the transaction of business by taking up Zero Hour to raise important issues and Question Hour, Harivansh said the Rajya Sabha had the chance to take up “180 starred questions, 180 Zero Hour submissions, and 180 special mentions” during the Monsoon Session of Parliament.However, due to continued disruptions, the Rajya Sabha has been adjourned without conducting scheduled business, with the House only being “able to take up 13 starred questions, five Zero Hour submissions and 17 special mentions” during this period, he said, pointing out that 51 hours and 30 minutes allocated time for business have been lost .While the opposition has been pushing a for a discussion on the SIR, currently taking place in poll-bound Bihar, the Union government has taken a stand that the House cannot take up a discussion on the issue as the case is sub-judice in the Supreme Court and that the matter relates to Election Commission of India (ECI), an autonomous body.After the customary laying of papers on Thursday, Harivansh informed the House that he had received 25 notices under Rule 267 –– to suspend the listed business and take up pressing issues, but these were not admitted.Opposition leaders, including AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Congress’s Jairam Ramesh and DMK’s Tiruchi Siva, urged the deputy chairman to consider the notices, but the House was adjourned till 2pm. With the opposition, unrelenting in its demand, the House was eventually adjourned for the day when it gathered post lunch.Prior to the adjournment in the afternoon, the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2025, was passed in the House through voice vote even as opposition protested over demands to discuss the SIR exercise.Speaking outside the House, a senior BJP leader said the opposition was “politicising” the SIR issue and the ECI’s functioning, making a reference to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s accusations against the poll panel. “They are aware of the rules, and that the (functioning of the) ECI cannot be discussed in the House…They want to derail the proceedings in Parliament and outside, the leader (Gandhi) is trying to create fake narratives against the ECI,” the leader said on anonymity.The Congress, for its part, said there is a ruling in the House that said the “only restriction is related to the conduct of any judge except on a motion related to his removal”.On Wednesday, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said, “Yesterday, the Deputy Chairman gave a ruling that because the Lok Sabha Speaker had said so on December 14, 1988, any matter concerning the Election Commission cannot be discussed in Parliament. But on July 21, 2023, the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha –– a Modi appointee –– had categorically ruled that ‘the Rajya Sabha is entitled to discuss anything under the planet with only one restriction.’ He had gone on to say that the ‘only one restriction’ related to the conduct of any judge except on a motion related to his removal. The then-Chairman had added that the concept of sub-judice was totally misconceived.”