Partisan, spokesperson of govt: Oppn moves no-trust motion against Vice-President Dhankhar

According to 67(b) of the Constitution, “a Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days’ notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution”.

The Winter Session ends in 10 days, and it is not clear if the notice holds for the next Session.

As regards numbers, the INDIA bloc has 85 MPs in the Rajya Sabha, way short of the current halfway mark of 116. The alliance can additionally count on the support of Independent MP Kapil Sibal. The NDA, in contrast, has 113 MPs and can count on the support of six nominated members, who usually cast their vote with the government, and two Independents.

Parties like the YSR Congress Party, Biju Janata Dal and Bharat Rashtra Samithi, which are neither aligned with the NDA nor the INDIA bloc, and together have 19 MPs, made it clear Tuesday that they were not part of the Opposition’s move. Apart from them, the AIADMK has four MPs in the Rajya Sabha and the BSP one, and neither leans towards the INDIA bloc.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju slammed the Opposition’s motion, saying “the Congress and their allies have repeatedly disrespected the Chair”. Invoking Dhankhar’s background, he said: “Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar comes from a poor farmer’s family and is the first V-P from the Jat community. And the V-P always talks of the welfare of farmers, poor, the country inside and outside Parliament. He guides us. We respect him a lot. He is a very knowledgeable person. We are proud of him.”

On the fate of the Opposition’s motion, Rijiju said: “We have full majority and numbers in Parliament.”

Calling it “a strong message to fight for parliamentary democracy”, the Opposition served the notice to move the resolution against Dhankhar to the Secretary General of the Rajya Sabha. Around 60 Rajya Sabha MPs have signed the notice, including the Congress’s Pramod Tiwari and Jairam Ramesh; the Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh; the Trinamool Congress’s Sukendu Sekhar Ray, Sushmita Dev and Sagarika Ghose; apart from MPs belonging to the RJD, CPI, CPI(M), JMM, DMK and the Samajwadi Party.

Most of the senior Rajya Sabha Opposition leaders, including Congress president and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, Sonia Gandhi and floor leaders of respective parties have not been made signatories to the notice as per a conscious decision, the sources said.

While the TMC has kept its distance from the INDIA bloc in Parliament, the party has a long list of grievances against Dhankhar, going back to the time he was the Bengal governor.

In a post on X, Jairam Ramesh said: “All parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon’ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States. It has been a very painful decision for the INDIA parties to take, but in the interests of parliamentary democracy they have had to take this step.”

This is the first time a notice for bringing a motion to remove the Vice-President has been submitted. As per rules, a 14-day notice has to be given and the motion has to be approved by the Deputy Chairman (since it is against the Chairman) before it can be taken up in the Rajya Sabha.

In the notice, the Opposition parties are learnt to have accused Dhankhar of “partisan” conduct in the Rajya Sabha, recounting some statements made by him allegedly against the Opposition.

Sources privy to the notice said the two-page document also mentions Dhankhar’s July 2 remarks in the Rajya Sabha that he became “the Eklavya of the RSS” some 25 years ago, adding that this is “unbecoming” of the non-partisan nature of the presiding officer position he occupies in the House. The notice, it is learnt, goes on to call Dhankhar “explicitly partisan”, conducting the proceedings of the Rajya Sabha in “an extremely biased manner”.

Sources said the notice has also alleged that Dhankhar constantly interrupts Opposition members when they attempt to speak, repeatedly makes disparaging comments about them publicly, and criticises them for views against the functioning of the government. The Opposition has reportedly attached newspaper clippings to make its case.

The Opposition notice specifically mentions the events of Monday, December 9, in the House, when Dhankhar reportedly called some NDA MPs to speak even after rejecting their Rule 267 notice seeking to raise the “rising threats to national security due to alleged nexus between a political party and some organisations working against India”.

The Opposition notice is learnt to also accuse Dhankhar of unfairly using privilege motions to silence Opposition MPs, and of disparaging expression of dissent against the government. In this regard, the petition apparently makes these charges against Dhankhar – that he has denied legitimate requests of the Leader of the Opposition to challenge alleged falsehoods of the Prime Minister and Leader of the House; made unacceptable remarks against the Leader of the Opposition; criticised statements by Opposition leaders who are not even Rajya Sabha MPs; and publicly attacked Opposition MPs over views contrary to the position of the government.

Thus, the petition argues, Dhankhar has reduced the “pivotal” role he has as the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha to that of a mere spokesman for the government of the day.

Ramesh said the hand of Opposition parties was “forced” as Dhankhar “crossed all limits” on Monday by allowing ruling party MPs to speak against the Congress leadership in the House. He said all INDIA parties have “unitedly, unanimously” endorsed the no-confidence motion against Dhankhar. Other parties accused Dhankhar of “encouraging and provoking” the Treasury Benches to make outrageous remarks.

While admitting that they did not have the numbers to get the no-confidence motion passed, TMC Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose said: “It is a strong message to fight for parliamentary democracy. Nothing against individuals, this is a fight for institutions.”

She added: “This government is murdering Parliament… The BJP and the government are misusing high constitutional offices and making them subservient to Executive power… At stake is the integrity of our parliamentary democracy itself and the solemn constitutional rights of every representative of the people.”