Om Birla responds to no-confidence motion: ‘Examine, expedite’

Birla's response to the no-confidence motion came within an hour of its submission.

• Opposition submits notice to remove Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla
• Speaker Birla asks secretariat to examine and expedite the notice
• Rahul Gandhi did not sign the notice as LoP cannot petition Speaker's removal

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After Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice for moving a resolution to remove Om Birla, the Lok Speaker asked the Lower House secretariat to "examine the notice and expedite the process".

A report by Hindustan Times stated that Birla's response to the no-confidence motion came within an hour of its submission.

Congress’ deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi, chief whip K Suresh and whip Mohamed Jawed submitted the notice to Lok Sabha Secretary General Utpal Kumar Singh on behalf of several opposition parties, including the Congress, Samajwadi Party and the DMK.

They alleged that the Lok Sabha Speaker had acted in a “blatantly partisan” manner in conducting the business of the House and abused the constitutional office by making “blatantly false” allegations against Congress MPs.

Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, did not sign the notice of no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla, as it is not proper for the LoP to sign a petition for the removal of the Speaker in a parliamentary democracy.

On several occasions, leaders of opposition parties have just not been allowed to speak, which is their basic democratic right in Parliament, the notice said.

The notice also cited that on February 2, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, was not allowed to complete his speech on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address. This is not an isolated instance. The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha is almost invariably not allowed to speak, it claimed.

On February 3, eight opposition MPs were “arbitrarily suspended” for the entire Budget session and are being penalised merely for exercising their democratic rights, the notice said.

On February 4, a MP from the BJP was permitted to make wholly objectionable and personalised attacks on two former prime ministers without being reprimanded even once for disregarding established conventions and norms of propriety, it said, in an apparent reference to Nishikant Dubey's remarks.

“In spite of our request, no action has been taken against this particular MP, who is a habitual offender,” they said.

The notice also referred to Birla's remarks that he had "concrete information" that many Congress members might move towards Prime Minister Narendra Modi's seat and carry out "some unexpected act" as a result of which he had requested him not to come to the House to reply to the discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address.

“The aforementioned remarks cast blatantly false allegations against the members of the Indian National Congress and are derogatory in nature. The Speaker, who is required to be the custodian of the Rules of Procedure and the norms of parliamentary decorum, chose the floor of the House to make such statements, which is indicative of an abuse of this constitutional office,” the notice said.