New Delhi: The suspension of 21 Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators from the Delhi Assembly Tuesday was the largest number of lawmakers to be penalised for unruly behaviour by the Speaker in the past decade or so.
“The primary reason for the large number of MLAs being suspended is the poor strength of Opposition legislators ever since the AAP dominated the Assembly with its brute majority,” said S.K. Sharma, former secretary, Lok Sabha and Delhi Assembly.
Twenty appears to be a large number as a maximum of 8 MLAs were suspended in the past decade as the BJP did not have more legislators than this, he said.
The 21 AAP legislators were suspended for disrupting the address of Lt Governor V.K. Saxena in the House.
Pointing to Tuesday’s development in the Assembly, Sharma said suspension of the entire Opposition camp is nothing unusual in a legislature.
“Suspensions have been happening since 1993 when Madan Lal Khurana became the Chief Minister. On most occasions, the Speaker does not name all suspended MLAs but it is the practice to assume that the entire Opposition camp has been told to sit out,” he said.
The parliamentary convention is to suspend all Opposition legislators who support or walkout to show solidarity with a colleague ordered to be marshalled out, said Sharma who is credited with framing rules and procedure of Delhi Assembly.
It was only during the 49-day government of Arvind Kejriwal in 2013 that the number of Opposition MLAs was more than the current 21. In 2013, the BJP was in the Opposition with 31 legislators.
Before that, the largest Opposition contingent was elected in 2008 with voters sending 23 BJP legislators to the House after the Congress won its third straight election in Delhi.
But in the past decade – since 2015 – there have been just eight and three BJP legislators in the Opposition.
Slamming the AAP government over the past decade for demolishing parliamentary practices and norms in Delhi Assembly, Sharma recalled the days when suspension from the proceedings of the House was considered a feat of honour for a legislator.
When Khurana was the Chief Minister and Jag Pravesh Chandra of the Congress was the Leader of Opposition in Delhi Assembly between 1993 and 1998, there used to be a healthy competition among Opposition legislators to get heard in the House, said Sharma.
“There used to be long, enlightening discussions in the House. Opposition members presented their views and recorded dissent following conventions. Fridays were reserved for private member bills and so on. But all this was discontinued under Kejriwal,” said Sharma, who has over five decades of experience in legislative proceedings.
“Under Kejriwal, the Delhi Assembly was reduced to a forum for abusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said, adding that none other than the then CM was allowed to speak in the House.
The constitutional expert hoped that the new BJP government under Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and the L-G would revive the practice of Question Hour and introduction of resolutions and Bills as well.
He recalled an incident related to his tenure as Secretary, Delhi Assembly, when it had become virtually impossible for marshals to physically lift and carry away a well-build Sikh legislator of the BJP.
“I had to personally walk up to the legislator and request him to voluntarily accompany the marshals so that the direction of the Speaker could be complied with,” said Sharma, who has held several training sessions for legislators in the past.