GST Bill passed in Rajya Sabha: It’s a great day for Indian democracy, says Arun Jaitley

He, however, asserted to make the bill a success both the Centre and states have to work together. “The Centre and the state govts will have to work together to make this a great success. We will take this to Lok Sabha, and with the direction of the speaker we will pass it as soon as possible,” said Jaitley.

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The Constitution (122nd Amendment) Bill, 2014 was approved by the Upper House with 203 votes in favour and none against, after a seven-hour debate during which a rare bonhomie was witnessed among the ruling and the opposition parties.

Six official amendments, including scrapping of one per cent additional tax, moved by the government were approved with cent per cent votes.

The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha earlier. It will now go back to the Lower House to incorporate the amendments approved by the Rajya Sabha. The bill will also have to be approved by 50 per cent of all the state assemblies.

AIADMK was the only party to oppose the measure and its members staged a walkout from the House to register their unhappiness over the bill which lays the ground for rollout of uniform Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime that will subsume all indirect taxes including central excise duty and state VAT/sales tax.