Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankar arrives to conduct the proceedings of the House during the Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI/Sansad TV
Vice President of India and Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar told the House that he would hold consultations to decide on the Opposition’s demand for a debate on the duplication of Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPICs) on a day the Opposition decided to halt its protests on the issue.
Mr. Dhankhar rejected the notices moved under Rule 267, requiring suspension of the day’s business to discuss the issue at hand by Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MP Sanjay Singh on the same issue, and another moved by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Samik Bhattacharya on the non-implementation of a Central scheme in West Bengal.
“It is not anyone’s intention to disrupt this House. We want the House to run. Members have important issues to raise in Zero Hour. We want your kind consideration to allow [a] short duration on the issue of duplication of EPIC numbers, which has been raised by several parties,” Trinamool Congress (TMC) parliamentary party leader in the Rajya Sabha Derek O’ Brien said.
He was seconded by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) floor leader Tiruchi Siva, who supplemented the request with the demand for a similar discussion on the impending delimitation exercise, which Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin has said would punish the southern States by diminishing their representation in Parliament.
“I will confer with leaders of the parties and come back to the House at the earliest,” Mr. Dhankar said, responding to both of them.
In an orderly House, the Opposition managed to get a word in on the EPIC duplication issue when TMC MP Saket Gokhale spoke during the Zero Hour on the demand for conferring the Bharat Ratna posthumously on the late T. N. Seshan, former Chief Election Commissioner. He said Seshan redefined the way the Election Commission of India (ECI) functioned. “Mr. Seshan was a fiercely independent Election Commissioner. His famous quote, ‘I eat politicians for breakfast’, shows that he worked without fear or favour, and upheld the independence and dignity of the Election Commission,” Mr. Gokhale added.
T.N. Seshan would not have approved of the current method of appointment of Election Commissioners, the TMC MP added. “Today, Election Commissioners are appointed directly by the government…without any presence of the Chief Justice of India or the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha. The ECI has become a government-appointed body. T.N. Seshan would not approve of it,” Mr. Gokhale said.
Seshan strictly enforced the Model Code of Conduct (MCC), making it a powerful tool for free and fair elections, Mr. Gokhale said, before accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of “shredding” the MCC during the 2024 General Election campaign. He further said that EPIC had been envisaged by T.N. Seshan as a “unique electoral identity”, but it was no longer “unique” as multiple cards carrying the same number existed.
“The ECI was aware of the major scam but they didn’t do anything till our leader Mamata Banerjee flagged it. The ECI till now has not disclosed how many EPIC cards are there,” Mr. Gokhale said.
During Zero Hour, senior Congress leader Sonia Gandhi raised the issue of the dilution of the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA); Biju Janata Dal (BJD) MP Sasmit Patra raise the demand for “special category status for Odisha”; and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) MP Manoj K. Jha spoke on “the need for enhancement of honorarium to ASHA workers”.
Published – March 18, 2025 08:30 pm IST