Lok Sabha clears Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill with voice vote amid Opposition din

Pal then asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take up the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026, for consideration and passing. The Bill was passed by a voice vote.

3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Aug 6, 2026 05:33 AM IST

The Lok Sabha was adjourned as it convened at 2 pm for the second half on Wednesday, soon after the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026, was passed by voice vote without debate amid Opposition din.

Earlier, when the Lok Sabha convened at 11 am, the House was adjourned within minutes, as Opposition members started raising slogans and disrupted the Question Hour.

Speaker Om Birla asked the protesting members to allow the Question Hour to function. A visibly upset Birla said raising slogans inside and outside the House was not good for democracy. He then adjourned the House until 2 pm.

At 2 pm, Jagdambika Pal, who was in the Chair, requested Opposition members to return to their seats so that the Zero Hour could start. He underlined that the Zero Hour and Question Hour were important for Parliamentary functioning. However, the ruckus in the House continued.

Pal then asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to take up the Bankers’ Books Evidence Bill, 2026, for consideration and passing. The Bill was passed by a voice vote.

The Bill repeals and replaces the Bankers’ Books Evidence Act, 1891, providing for certified copies of bank records to be used as evidence in legal proceedings without requiring production of the original records. It lays down that an authentic digital record of a banker’s book will be legally enforceable as evidence, thus bringing the legal requirements in sync with the present realities of the banking system, explains PRS Legislative Research in its analysis of the Bill.

After the passage of the Bill, Pal said that people were watching the Opposition members, regretting that they were not allowing the House to function.

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Pal said the government was willing to debate everything, as it said in Business Advisory Committee meetings.

Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju said Congress leader K C Venugopal was a “good man” but of no use if he cannot convince his fellow members to allow the House to function. “People can see that it is the target of the Opposition to not let Parliament function,” he said, adding that the government gave all the time for debate in the Business Advisory Committee, but Bills were being passed without debate as the Opposition was not participating.

At a time when the Opposition is making “donation theft” in the Ram Temple an issue, Rijiju said the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the communists were “opponents of Lord Ram and have insulted Him”. He said that they opposed the Ram Temple but were “enacting a drama here”. They should apologise to the nation, Rijiju said.

Pal requested Opposition members to vacate the well of the House, but slogans continued. Pal then adjourned the House for the day.

Vikas Pathak

Vikas Pathak is deputy associate editor with The Indian Express and writes on national politics. He has over 17 years of experience, and has worked earlier with The Hindustan Times and The Hindu, among other publications. He has covered the national BJP, some key central ministries and Parliament for years, and has covered the 2009 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls and many state assembly polls. He has interviewed many Union ministers and Chief Ministers. Vikas has taught as a full-time faculty member at Asian College of Journalism, Chennai; Symbiosis International University, Pune; Jio Institute, Navi Mumbai; and as a guest professor at Indian Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi. Vikas has authored a book, Contesting Nationalisms: Hinduism, Secularism and Untouchability in Colonial Punjab (Primus, 2018), which has been widely reviewed by top academic journals and leading newspapers. He did his PhD, M Phil and MA from JNU, New Delhi, was Student of the Year (2005-06) at ACJ and gold medalist from University Rajasthan College in Jaipur in graduation. He has been invited to top academic institutions like JNU, St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and IIT Delhi as a guest speaker/panellist. ... Read More

Asad Rehman

Asad Rehman is with the national bureau of The Indian Express and covers politics and policy focusing on religious minorities in India. A journalist for over eight years, Rehman moved to this role after covering Uttar Pradesh for five years for The Indian Express. During his time in Uttar Pradesh, he covered politics, crime, health, and human rights among other issues. He did extensive ground reports and covered the protests against the new citizenship law during which many were killed in the state. During the Covid pandemic, he did extensive ground reporting on the migration of workers from the metropolitan cities to villages in Uttar Pradesh. He has also covered some landmark litigations, including the Babri Masjid-Ram temple case and the ongoing Gyanvapi-Kashi Vishwanath temple dispute. Prior to that, he worked on The Indian Express national desk for three years where he was a copy editor. Rehman studied at La Martiniere, Lucknow and then went on to do a bachelor's degree in History from Ramjas College, Delhi University. He also has a Masters degree from the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia. ... Read More

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