12 Rajya Sabha MPs suspended for rest of winter session for August ruckus

The Rajya Sabha on the first day of its business for the Winter Session on Monday suspended 12 of its members, including Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi and Trinamool MP Dola Sen, for the remaining part of the current session.

The action has been taken against them for indiscipline in the monsoon session of the house. Apart from Priyanka Chaturvedi and Dona Sen, MPs who have been suspended on Monday are Elamaram Kareem (CPM), Congress’s Phulo Devi Netam, Chhaya Verma, R Bora, Rajamani Patel, Syed Nasir Hussain, Akhilesh Prasad Singh, CPI’s Binoy Viswam, TMC’s Shanta Chhetri and Shiv Sena’s Anil Desai.

The MPs have lowered the dignity of the House by unprecedented acts of misconduct through their violent behaviour and ‘intentional attacks’ on security personnel on the last day of the monsoon session on August 11, the suspension notice said.

The last day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament witnessed a ruckus in the Upper House while opposition MPs claimed they were attacked by marshals who were not part of Parliament security. The government’s report on the ruckus states that a male marshal was choked by CPM MP Elamaran Kareem while a female marshal of the Rajya Sabha was assaulted by Chhaya Verma and Phulo Devi Netam, Congress MPs. The report was submitted to the Rajya Sabha chairman after the House was suspended for the season.

Reacting to the suspension notice, Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday said, “From district court to Supreme Court, an accused is heard even there, lawyers are provided for them too, sometimes government officials are sent to take their version. Here, our version wasn’t taken.”