Opposition walks out of Rajya Sabha over duplicate voter ID fraud, delimitation exercise

Rajya Sabha proceedings ongoing in the Parliament.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Opposition parties, including the Congress and Trinamool Congress, walked out of the Rajya Sabha on Monday (March 17, 2025) after their demand for a discussion on the Election Commission’s alleged lapses in issuing multiple duplicate voter ID cards and delimitation was disallowed.

Ten Members of Parliament from the Trinamool, Congress and Left parties gave notices under Rule 267 that calls for setting aside business of the day to take up discussion on the issue being raised through them. But Deputy Chairman Harivansh said they could not be accepted as they were not in conformity with the rulings of the chair on such notices.

While Trinamool and Congress MPs sought to raise the duplicate voter ID card issue, parties from Tamil Nadu wanted to discuss the impact of the ensuing delimitation exercise on southern States.

Opposition members raised slogans and pressed for a discussion. However, they staged a walkout after Mr. Harivansh asserted that their notices have not been accepted and nothing that they said was going on record.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Mausam B. Noor, Sushmita Dev (Trinamool) and Pramod Tiwari (Congress) have demanded a discussion over the alleged lapse of the Election Commission in issuance of multiple duplicate Electronic Electoral Photo Identity Cards across the States, Mr. Harivansh said.

DMK’s P. Wilson and V. Sivadasan of CPI(M) demanded a discussion on concerns regarding the upcoming delimitation exercise to southern states.

BJP’s Samik Bhattacharya wanted to discuss increased instances of atrocities against SCs, STs and OBCs in West Bengal. CPI’s P. Sandosh Kumar sought to raise the issue of the impact of a deal by Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio with Elon Musk’s Starlink for providing satellite broadband internet in India.

While Sanjay Singh of AAP demanded a discussion on the increase in crimes and deteriorating law and order situation in Delhi, Haris Beeran of IUML wanted one on the issue of increased instances of drug addiction amongst youth and students in Kerala.