Oppn moves no-confidence motion to remove RS Chairman Dhankhar

Rajya Sabha Chairman and Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar in the House. Pic/PTI

Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice to move a motion for removing Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also the Vice President, for allegedly conducting the House in a partisan manner. Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Naseer Hussain submitted the notice to Rajya Sabha Secretary General P C Mody. The vice president is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha.

The sources said about 60 opposition MPs - including from the Congress, RJD, TMC, CPI, CPI-M, JMM, AAP, DMK - have signed the notice. The minimum required numbers for moving a motion to remove the vice president is 50. However, they said top Congress leaders who hold Constitutional posts have not signed the notice. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the floor leaders of various opposition parties are also not among the signatories, the sources said.

The notice, spearheaded by the Congress, comes in the wake of turbulent ties between opposition parties and the Rajya Sabha chairman. Congress MP Digvijaya Singh had accused the Rajya Sabha chairman of being partisan. INDIA bloc parties had in August this year also considered submitting a notice for moving a resolution to remove the vice president from his office.

According to Article 67(b) of the Constitution, "Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution."

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