Members complain about Lok Sabha's new seating arrangements

New Delhi: Seating arrangements in the Lok Sabha, finalised last week, have led to a fair amount of discontentment among members. While some MPs were unhappy with their seat allocation, several senior MPs found themselves seated in rows behind the ones they had occupied in the last session. 

In fact, a key leader of a South India-based party complained publicly to Speaker Om Birla during the House’s proceedings on Tuesday, that he was now seated in a row which was far behind the one he had occupied in the last session. The fifth-term MP, whose complaint was expunged, also said that several senior MPs were facing the same problem.

Sources in the government said that for each 24 or 28 seats, parties were allocated a front row seat. With that calculation, the I.N.D.I.A. block was allocated seven front row seats in total. However, the Trinamool Congress wanted to negotiate with the government on their own.

“Our party had decided that, apart from LoP and deputy leader, we will keep two seats, and set aside one for DMK and two for Samajwadi Party, but since the TMC spoke to the government, the SP now has one seat,” a senior Congress leader told DH.

DH had earlier reported on the finalisation of the seating arrangement, which was done through a circular issued on November 29. Opposition leaders said that the seating arrangement was sent in by the Opposition parties in July when the interim session after the Lok Sabha results took place, but has been finalised now.

“There were some discussions in between,” the leader quoted above said. 

A senior TDP leader, not wishing to be named, said outside the Parliament, that he found himself seated next to a leader from the rival YSRCP. “Our party has 16 MPs and their party has 4, yet they occupy a privileged seat,” the leader told reporters. 

Another leader, from the Opposition, hailing from a political family, found themselves seated behind other leaders of their party, and was keen on taking it up with the Congress. 

In the division of seats that has been finalised, the prime minister has occupied the first seat, and he will be flanked by Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Union Home Minister Amit Shah respectively in the front row of the treasury benches. Union ministers Nitin Gadkari and Shivraj Chouhan will be in the front seats in the adjoining row, and in the row next to that union ministers ML Khattar and H D Kumaraswamy will sit. 

The Opposition’s main row will be occupied by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal, and DMK’s TR Baalu in the front seats. Congress deputy leader Gaurav Gogoi, K Suresh will occupy the front seats in the adjoining row, while Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav and TMC’s Sudip Bandopadhyay will occupy the other front row seats. Congress’s newest member Priyanka Gandhi will occupy an aisle seat in the fourth row.