As the looming spectre of a wasted winter session haunts Parliament, Vice President Hamid Ansari has asked for more powers to deal with disruptive and errant members of parliament. The Vice President is the Ex-Officio Chairman of the Upper House but does not enjoy the same disciplinary powers as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha.
On Thursday, he asked the Rules Committee of Parliament to allow the presiding officer to throw out members who are disrupting proceedings in the Rajya Sabha. The speaker of the Lok Sabha already enjoys these powers.
Ansari had earlier come under criticism for not having enough control over proceedings.
Ansari’s plea came on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi met him. On Wednesday, there was a brief exchange between Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien and Trinamool Congress member Sukhendu Sekhar Roy in which the latter accused the chair of running the House “on assurances and not rules”. In an interview to The Indian Express later, Roy voiced disappointment over the chair’s inability to run the House and the fact that one party is holding the entire House to ransom.Report in The Indian Express.