Gurugram: The Haryana assembly turned into a battleground on the third day of the winter session today as BJP MLAs Ram Kumar Kashyap and Yogender Singh Rana moved a discussion on election reforms, triggering a fierce confrontation between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.
Drafted cleverly, the motion moved by Kashyap and Rana, MLAs from Karnal district’s Indri and Assandh, was titled, ‘That the situation arising out of the ongoing electoral reforms relating to the preparation of electoral rolls be discussed’, and was actually meant to discuss the ‘Vote Chori’ campaign being carried out by the Congress.
However, the Congress, which has been holding demonstrations across the state on this issue, chose to oppose the discussion and boycotted the proceedings of the state assembly when the discussions were held.
The opposition Congress maintained that bringing up election reforms on the floor of the House was an attempt to bypass constitutional authorities.
The Leader of Opposition, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, argued that the electoral reforms was the task of the Election Commission of India and it came under the Union list and hence no discussion could be held on this issue in the state assembly.
However, Haryana Minister Mahipal Dhanda countered Hooda and alleged that as the Congress has been accusing the BJP of ‘Vote Chori’, they had the right to defend themselves.
Hooda, however, said that the Congress’s allegations were against the Election Commission of India and that could not be discussed in the House.
Senior Congress leaders Raghubir Singh Kadiyan and Bharat Bhushan Batra also tried to impress upon Speaker Harvinder Kalyan not to allow the discussion, but the Speaker ruled in favour of the discussion, leading to a walkout by the Congress.
Things took a turn for the worse when before staging a walkout, Congress MLAs alleged that Minister Vipul Goel had used abusive language against them during the heated exchanges. Visibly agitated Congress members raised slogans and marched towards the well of the House, forcing repeated adjournments.
The Speaker later announced that though Goel denied using abusive language, and had even offered regret if his words offended the Opposition, if any abusive word was found, it would be expunged from the proceedings of the House.
Chief Minister Nayab Saini and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda were both present in the House, but the ruckus prevented any meaningful debate. The treasury benches insisted that discussing electoral reforms was well within the assembly’s purview, while Congress maintained its stand that such matters were the exclusive domain of constitutional bodies.
The BJP, however, used the opportunity to launch a scathing attack on Congress over its persistent allegations of ‘Vote Chori’ following the recent assembly elections. Party members accused the Congress of trying to undermine democratic institutions by making baseless claims about electoral malpractices instead of accepting the people’s mandate gracefully.
Minister Mahipal Dhanda moved a censure motion against the Congress for staging a walkout instead of discussing the allegation that the party has been levelling on the streets.
The motion was passed in the assembly unanimously in the absence of the Congress.
Besides Mahipal Dhanda and Goel, BJP ministers and MLAs Arvind Sharma, Ram Kumar Gautam, Krishna Gahlawat, Om Prakash Yadav, Gaurav Gautam, Shyam Singh Rana also participated in the discussion and accused the Congress of trying to create a false narrative of ‘Vote Chori’ in the public, while shying away from a discussion on it in the House.
Chief Minister Nayab Saini concluded the discussion by accusing the Congress of trying to defame Haryana by levelling “baseless allegations”.
“The EVMs and the ECI are good for the Congress when it wins, but it becomes Vote Chori the moment they lose,” alleged Saini.
Later, talking to ThePrint, Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra said his party had apprised the Speaker that as per Articles 325 to 329 of the Constitution, elections to the state assembly, Parliament, President and the Vice President come under the domain of the Election Commission of India and also as per Section 21 of the People’s Representation Act, 1950, the powers of Election reforms vested with the ECI.
He said that their arguments were overlooked by the Speaker.
The Speaker, however, had told the House that the discussion was being allowed under Rule 84 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Haryana assembly.
“What is the point of discussing ECI’s role in the state assembly when the assembly doesn’t have any domain over the commission? If they want to discuss Vote Chori, why can’t the MLAs who moved the motion mention these words? Why have they titled it as discussion on electoral reforms?” Batra asked while speaking to ThePrint over the telephone.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)