INDIA bloc’s notice to remove Rajya Sabha chairman Dhankhar a 1st for Parliament. What happens next

New Delhi: The opposition INDIA bloc parties Tuesday submitted a notice to move a motion to remove from office Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also ex-officio chairman of the Rajya Sabha, for his “partisan conduct” and taking it upon himself to be an “impassioned spokesperson of the [central] government’s policies in public forums across the country.”

The notice for removal of Rajya Sabha chairman is a first in India’s young parliamentary democracy.

Sources in the INDIA bloc said in the two-page notice submitted to Rajya Sabha secretary general P.C. Mody Tuesday, opposition parties have also said Dhankhar “repeatedly made disparaging comments about Members of the House belonging to opposition parties publicly, criticising any and every action taken by them where the leaders have expressed issues with the functioning of the ruling government.”

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Syed Naseer Hussain told ThePrint that at least 60 MPs from the Congress, All India Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Samajwadi Party, Aam Aadmi Party, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, CPI and CPI(M) submitted a notice for a motion to to remove Dhankhar under Article 67(B) of the Constitution. 

Article 67(B) states that the “Vice President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States 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.”  

Sources from opposition parties said the notice cites articles/videos covering various instances where Dhankhar has “unjustly been critical of opposition members or their actions”. 

Opposition parties, it is learnt, mentioned in the notice how Dhankhar has “repeatedly interrupted members of the Opposition while they are speaking, unfairly used privilege motions to silence leaders of the Opposition, and openly delegitimised dissent with respect to the actions of the government in the utmost disparaging manner.”

In the notice, opposition leaders have also pointed out how the Rajya Sabha chairman “repeatedly denied legitimate requests of the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha to intervene and rebut falsehoods propagated by the Prime Minister and the Leader of the House”.

Sources privy to the notice said that opposition MPs also mentioned how Dhankhar “recalled his past associations with so-called cultural organisations in a manner unbecoming of the high constitutional position that he occupies” and “criticised statements made by opposition leaders who are not members of the Rajya Sabha”.

Sources said that opposition leaders quoted in the notice how on 2 July, 2024, Dhankhar labelled himself as the “Eklavya of the RSS” while adding that he wished that he had “started his political career with the RSS itself”.

The House was adjourned soon after, following loud protests from the treasury benches over Congress leader Sonia Gandhi and her family’s alleged links with billionaire George Soros.