New Delhi: Trinamool Congress' MP Derek O'Brien got suspended from Rajya Sabha (RS) on Tuesday for the rest of the Winter Session for unruly behaviour.
He allegedly threw the RS rule book at the chair as his protest against the Election Reform Bill 2021, but talking to NDTV, he denied such an act and challenged to produce the video footage to prove he is guilty, NDTV reported.
However, the Winter Session of Parliament, scheduled to end on Thursday, was adjourned sine die (without any future date of resumption) on Wednesday.
O'Brien mockingly said that RS suspended him for only a day. He wondered what if he had actually thrown the rule book implying that disciplinary actions would have been worse if the allegation was true.
He claimed he was suspended for a 'tutorial' he gave in the Upper House. For six minutes, he explained how the MPs were not given time to consider, discuss, and debate a Bill. The House had passed the Electoral Reforms Bill in 20 minutes while it is supposed to allow two days for discussion, and no RS MP was allowed even one day, he said. He added that the fate of this Bill would also be the same as repealed Farm Bills.
The Opposition stood against the Electoral Reform Bill 2021, arguing that linking Aadhaar to voter ID will end up on non-citizens voting during elections. But the government got it passed in both the Houses of Parliament in two days, but amid massive protests.
O'Brien became the 13th RS MP to get suspended on this Winter Session that ended on Wednesday, with 12 others having been suspended at the beginning of the session for their alleged violation of decorum in the previous session.