Opposition to boycott election of Rajya Sabha deputy chairman: Jairam Ramesh

'First, the Modi government has not appointed a Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha for 7 years. This has never happened before,' he said.

New Delhi: The opposition will boycott the election of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha as a mark of protest against the Modi government not appointing a deputy speaker in the Lok Sabha for seven years, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on Thursday.

The government had not had any meaningful consultations on the matter either, the Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X. He added that the opposition hopes "Harivansh 3.0" will be more accommodative of and receptive to its requests.

"First, the Modi government has not appointed a Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha for 7 years. This has never happened before.

"Second, the Deputy Speaker's counterpart in the Rajya Sabha is the Deputy Chairman. Shri Harivansh's second term ended on April 9th. A day later he was nominated by the President of India as a member of the Rajya Sabha and he is now the NDA's candidate for Deputy Chairman for a third term," Ramesh said in his post.

Never before has a person nominated by the president to the Rajya Sabha been considered for the post of its deputy chairman, he said.

Third, all this is being done without any meaningful consultations with the Opposition, the Congress leader said.

"For these three reasons and as a mark of protest - but not with any disrespect to the very learned Shri Harivansh - the Opposition has regretfully decided to boycott the election of the Deputy Chairman scheduled for April 17," Ramesh said.

The Rajya Sabha will hold the election for the post of deputy chairman on April 17. The ruling NDA is likely to push for re-electing Harivansh to the key post.

The post of the deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha fell vacant after Harivansh's tenure of Harivansh ended on April 9. Harivansh has since been nominated to the Upper House by President Droupadi Murmu and took oath on April 10.

Union minister and BJP leader J P Nadda, who is also leader of the house in the Rajya Sabha, is learnt to have discussed the re-election of Harivansh as deputy chairman with leaders of various parties, while trying to bring about a broad consensus on his name.

However, the Congress, TMC and Left parties raised objections to the ruling party's "keenness" in holding elections for filling the post when the post of deputy speaker in Lok Sabha has been vacant since 2019.