In an unprecedented development, as many as 79 opposition MPs—33 from Lok Sabha and 46 from Rajya Sabha—were suspended on Monday after they staged protests against the recent security breach in parliament, taking the total number of MPs placed under suspension during the winter session to 92.
The MPs were suspended after they intensified their protest and disrupted the proceedings, demanding a statement from Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach incident.
The opposition members suspended from Lok Sabha on Monday included Congress’s leader in the house Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK leader T.R. Balu and Trinamool Congress’s Sougata Ray.
Other members suspended from the lower house are: Gaurav Gogoi, K. Suresh, Amar Singh, Rajamohan Unnithan, Su. Thirunavukkarasar, K Muraleedharan, Anto Antony (all from Congress), Kalyan Banerjee, Aparupa Poddar, Prasun Banerjee, Satabdi Ray, Protima Mondal, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, Asit Kumar Mal, Sunil Kumar Mondal (all from TMC), A. Raja, Dayanidhi Maran, T Sumathy, K. Navas Kani, Kalanidhi Veerasamy, C.N. Annadurai, S.S. Palanimanickam, G Selvam, S Ramalingam (all from DMK), E.T. Mohammed Basheer (IUML), N.K. Premachandran (RSP) and Kaushalendra Kumar (JD-U).
Three Congress members—K. Jayakumar, Vijay Vasanth and Abdul Khaleque—who had climbed on the speaker’s podium and raised slogans, were suspended from the lower house pending report of the Privileges Committee on their unparliamentary behaviour.
Later in the afternoon, Rajya Sabha chairman Jagdeep Dhankar suspended 46 MPs, including Congress’s Jairam Ramesh, Randeep Surjewala and K.C. Venugopal, after they staged protest in the house.
While 34 members were suspended for the remaining part of the session, the “misconduct” of 11 others was referred to the Privileges Committee, which has been asked to give its report in three months. They have been suspended until the report is submitted by the panel. Earlier, 13 Opposition MPs, including TMC’s Derek O’Brien, had been suspended for their “unruly conduct” in the house.
