The second half of the Budget session will resume on Monday, with the Lok Sabha scheduled to consider a no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla as the main item on the agenda.
The agenda circulated on the House of Representatives portal lists discussion of the resolution as the main work for Monday.
The motion will be moved by three Congress legislators – Mohammad Javed, Kodikunil Suresh and Mallu Ravi.
“This House, having taken into account the conduct of the Speaker in terms of preventing the Leader of the Opposition and other opposition leaders from speaking, leveling unjustified allegations against women MPs belonging to the Opposition, suspending opposition Members of Parliament for a full session for raising issues of public interest and failing to reprimand members of the ruling party for making objectionable and totally insulting remarks against former Prime Ministers, feels that he has ceased to maintain the neutral stance necessary to gain the confidence of all sections of Parliament,” it said. The resolution stated: “In his partisan stance, he ignores the rights of members of the House of Representatives and issues statements and issues judgments calculated to influence and undermine these rights; and that he publicly adopts the ruling party’s view on all controversial matters.”
The statement added, “All of these actions constitute a serious threat to the proper functioning of this council and the effective expression of the people’s concerns and grievances, and therefore it is decided to remove him from his office.”
Birla, who stopped chairing the assembly after the motion was moved against it on February 10, will not sit in the speaker’s chair during the discussion, officials familiar with the developments said.
The Speaker is expected to occupy the seat reserved for the Minister and may hear the proceedings. “If there is a vote on the resolution, Birla is unlikely to participate in it,” another official said.
As per Lok Sabha rules, MPs speaking on the resolution will each get 15 minutes and are asked to limit their remarks to the allegations mentioned in the notice.
No Trinamool Congress member has signed the notice against the Speaker and the party is unlikely to support the resolution in the House.
Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi also did not sign the notice and it remains unclear whether he will participate in the discussion.
