Three RS members suspended for unruly behaviour

Three more MPs – two from AAP and a Congress-backed independent from Assam – were suspended from Rajya Sabha on Thursday for the rest of the week for "unruly behaviour" in the House, taking the total number of suspended lawmakers to 23 in three days.

AAP's Sushil Kumar Gupta (Delhi) and Sandeep Kumar Pathak (Punjab) as well as independent Ajit Kumar Bhuyan were suspended for shouting slogans and displaying placards and thereby disrupting the proceedings in "utter disregard to the House and authority of the Chair".

Rajya Sabha Secretariat officials said this is the first time that displaying placards was mentioned as part of a motion to suspend MPs in Rajya Sabha. The Parliamentary Customs and Conventions as codified in the 'Handbook for the Members of Rajya Sabha' clearly mentions that “production of exhibits on the Floor of the House is not in order".

Read | MPs' suspension: Disproportionate punishment

Sources said Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu has been objecting to MPs holding placards during the proceedings and in meetings with Opposition leaders asked them to advise lawmakers to stop displaying placards.

With Thursday’s suspension, 23 MPs – seven from Trinamool, six from DMK, three each from TRS and AAP, two from CPI(M) and one from CPI – from Rajya Sabha have been suspended since Tuesday.

As soon as the House assembled at 11, the three MPs had rushed to the Well of the House with placards and were named by Naidu, who asked them to leave the House, and adjourned the House till 12 noon.

When the House assembled, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan placed a motion to suspend the MPs, which was adopted amid protests by the Opposition. Congress and AAP MPs were in the Well of the House, prompting Deputy Chairman Harivansh Narayan Singh to adjourn the House till 2 pm.

When the House assembled for the afternoon session, the suspended MPs refused to withdraw from the Chambers, prompting three adjournments, the final one for the day at 4 pm.

AAP MP Sandeep Pathak, incharge of party's political affairs in poll-bound Gujarat, said he and Gupta were suspended for raising the hooch tragedy in the BJP-ruled Gujarat.

The three MPs then joined other 20 suspended MPs, who were sitting on a ‘50 hour, non-stop’ dharna in Parliament against their suspension. The protest started on Wednesday morning and will end on Friday.

On Wednesday night, five of the suspended MPs, including CPI’s P Sandosh Kumar and AAP's Sanjay Singh, spent the night near the Gandhi Statue in Parliament House. Trinamool Congress’ TMC's Dola Sen and Santanu Sen were present at the site till post midnight

With authorities not granting permission for a tent, five MPs slept under the sky.