No record of division of votes, Horatti tells Congress members

Karnataka Legislative Council chairperson Basavaraj Horatti on Tuesday ruled that there was no record of Congress leaders seeking division of votes and hence, passing of the Anti-cow Slaughter Bill in the House on Monday was valid.

Congress MLCs staged a protest in the Council on Tuesday against the passing of the Anti-cow Slaughter Bill. They argued that they had sought the division of votes on the Bill, in spite of which the Bill was passed without taking it into consideration.

The entire day, the MLCs stood in the well of the House, marking their protest. Before the election for the chairperson’s post was held, Congress MLC BK Hariprasad demanded Acting Chairperson MK Pranesh to adjourn the session for half-a-day and examine the CCTV footage to corroborate their demand for the division of votes. However, his request was denied.

The MLCs continued their protest even after the new Chairperson Basavarah Horatti took the charge and asked him to examine the CCTV footage. Upon examining the records, Horatti said there was no record of the Congress MLCs’ demand for the division of votes and hence, the passing of the Bill was valid.

Not satisfied with the response, the Congress leaders insisted that they had sought for a division. They stood in the well till the session was adjourned sine die in the evening.