Tag: lok sabha quorum

Lok Sabha Adjourns Due to Lack of Quorum as Ruling Party MPs Leave After PM’s Address

The issue was flagged by DMK leader Dayanidhi Maran, speaker pressed the quorum bell but floor managers were unable to gather 55 MPs to complete it.

New Delhi: On a day when the prime minister delivered a nearly 90-minute speech during the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, the Lok Sabha had to be adjourned on Wednesday, February 8, by the speaker on account of a lack of quorum. Terming the incident as “unfortunate”, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) leader and Lok Sabha MP Dayanidhi Maran who raised the issue of quorum with the speaker said most of the ruling party MPs left after the PM’s address.

Maran raised the issue of quorum soon after his colleague, T.R. Baalu, completed his speech on a debate on the Union Budget. Though speaker Om Birla rang the quorum bell, the House could not muster the 55 MPs required to complete it. Thereafter it was adjourned.

Coming out of the Parliament building, Maran said: “The moment the prime minister gave his reply, the entire Treasury bench vacated the House – this with an important Bill such as the Budget to be passed. And when the Opposition parties were trying to make their comments, there was literally no member of the ruling party or a senior minister present.”

“When I raised the issue fortunately the speaker was there. I pressed for the quorum and the Speaker took note. As per the norm, three times the quorum bell has to be rung and the House is to assemble within 10 minutes,” he pointed out. He said while the opposition members were there, the Treasury members were not present in adequate numbers and so the Speaker had to adjourn the House.

According to the Lok Sabha site, “the quorum to constitute a sitting of the House is one-tenth of the total number of Members of the House under Article 100(3) of the constitution.”

Maran termed the development as unfortunate. “I think in the last 10 or 15 years such a thing has never happened. It is quite an unfortunate incident that there was a lack of quorum in the House. The quorum rule says that 10% of the members have to be present during a discussion,” he said.

He also insisted that “when the Finance Bill is discussed at least two Union ministers have to be there,” and added that “unfortunately, two Union ministers were also not present; only one minister of state was present. It is quite unfortunate that the ruling party, the Treasury benches, do not respect the Parliament.”

Incidentally, as per the news agency PTI, the Lok Sabha on Wednesday had extended its sitting till 8 pm to continue the debate on the Union Budget. It also quoted Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury as saying while speaking to journalists outside parliament that “soon after the prime minister completed his speech and left, all his sycophants also followed him. The House had to be adjourned for want of quorum.”

Prior to this, the business of the Lok Sabha had collapsed similarly on June 28, 2019. At that time, Aam Aadmi Party MP Bhagwant Mann had raised the issue of lack of quorum during a discussion on a private member resolution on water scarcity and the Ken-Betwa river linking project. The House had adjourned then too due to the lack of an adequate number of MPs.