NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed a walkout by members of Opposition parties, including the Congress and the TMC, 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 Opposition MPs gave notices under Rule 267, which calls for setting aside business of the day to take up the issue being raised through them. However, Deputy Chairman Harivansh refused to entertain the notices.While TMC and Congress MPs sought to raise the issue of duplicate voter ID cards in the House, Tamil parties wanted to discuss the impact of the ensuing delimitation exercise on southern states.The proceedings continued after the walkout. BJP MP Samik Bhattacharya urged the government to ensure the safe return of Bangladeshi novelist Taslima Nasrin to Kolkata, from where she was forced to leave. While raising the matter during the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Bhattacharya noted that Nasrin had written her 1993 novel ‘Lajja’ to dwell upon the unspeakable atrocities being inflicted on the Hindu minorities in Bangladesh.In the same session, NCP MP Fauzia Khan expressed concern over the rise in accidents involving school buses and vans and urged the government to formulate a national school transport policy to establish uniform safety regulations across all states. Discussing the matter during the Zero Hour in the Upper House, Khan cited a study to highlight the lack of safety measures in vehicles transporting schoolchildren.“Despite having one of the highest rates of road crash fatalities globally, India does not have a uniform comprehensive national policy on school transport safety,” she said.
Source link
