This Article is From Apr 26, 2016

In Parliament, Empty Benches But MPs Were Not Missed By Government

In Parliament, Empty Benches But MPs Were Not Missed By Government

Many Parliamentarians busy campaigning for assembly elections, haven't returned to Delhi for remainder of Budget session.

Highlights

  • Government is under fire for imposing President's Rule in Uttarakhand
  • Many MPs are away campaigning for the ongoing Assembly polls
  • Absence of MPs can ease the pressure on govt, says a senior BJP leader
New Delhi: Many empty benches in both Houses as Parliament convened on Monday, meant some respite for the government as it faced fire from the opposition on Uttarakhand.

Many Parliamentarians are busy campaigning for elections in four states and have not returned to Delhi yet for the remainder of the Budget session. Mostly missing, are members of opposition parties that are major players in those states, none of which are strongholds of the BJP or its partners at the Centre.

So parties like the Trinamool Congress, AIADMK, Congress and the Left arrived at Parliament in depleted numbers. On Monday, the entire central section in front of the Lok Sabha Speaker was vacant with all the AIADMK's 37 MPs in Tamil Nadu, where party chief J Jayalalithaa filed nomination.

The Congress is a major player in most of the states where elections are being held and even the Left is a prominent contestant in two - West Bengal where it is the Congress' partner and Kerala, where they are arch rivals.

The BJP had its share of absentees including ministers Babul Supriyo from West Bengal and P Radhakrishnan from Tamil Nadu.

The government has a comfortable majority in the Lok Sabha, but in the upper house or the Rajya Sabha, the absence of MPs can have an impact.  

The government can't sneak in key legislation that the opposition opposes since it has to notify the latter on these, but the absence of MPs, said a senior BJP leader, "can ease the pressure on the government, which can get short-term reprieve when it comes to issues in the house like the debate on Uttarakhand or the drought. Or even to push less contentious legislation."

Votes will be counted in Assam, which has already voted, and West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala on May 19. The Budget session ends on May 15.

This means that the AIADMK's 12 lawmakers, the DMK's four, the Trinamool's 12 and four from the Left and other parties are likely to be missing for this session. And several of the Congress' 65. With over 30 MPs absent, the government hopes the opposition's attacks will be blunted in the 243-member House.

 
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