New Delhi: As the Rajya Sabha on Thursday (December 11) took up the discussion on electoral reforms, House chairperson and Vice President C.P. Radhakrishnan announced that the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls could not be made a part of the discussion as the matter is sub-judice.

The discussion saw heated exchanges as opposition MPs mentioned the ongoing SIR in 12 states and Union territories, with vice chairperson Harivansh insisting that only parts of speeches pertaining to electoral reforms would be part of the record, citing Radhakrishnan’s ruling.

“The Election Commission of India is an autonomous constitutional authority under Article 324 of the Constitution. Consequently its day-to-day functioning is not the concern of the government of India,” said Radhakrishnan.

“Secondly, I wish to refer to Rule 238 of the Rules of Procedure of the Conduct of Business in the Council of States, which states that a member while speaking shall not reflect on the conduct of persons in high authority unless the discussion is based on a substantive motion drawn in proper terms. Finally I would like to remind that the matters concerning to SIR of electoral rolls are currently sub-judice.”

Referring to Rule 238(v), Radhakrishnan said that since the matter is sub-judice, members making any mention of the SIR would not have those parts of their speeches be made a part of the record of the House's proceedings.

Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh said that the Election Commission “can only conduct a revision for a particular constituency and not for the whole country”.

Harivansh then interrupted him to recall Radhakrishnan's ruling that the SIR cannot be mentioned in the discussion.

“I am not saying anything about the Supreme Court case. We complained before the Delhi assembly elections that 42,000 voters were deleted in the New Delhi constituency, that there was an increase in the number of members in MPs' houses. You [the BJP] are blaming Muslims, but in five years the population is increasing in your own houses, where is this population coming from?” he said.

Singh was interrupted again by Harivansh, who said that he should only stick to speaking about electoral reforms.

“Can I not speak about irregularities in elections? If I don't mention the problems, how will we talk about reforms? There have been irregularities in Delhi,” he said.

As Singh raised the voter deletions ahead of the Bihar elections, Harivansh said that none of these statements would go on record.

Leader of opposition Mallikarjun Kharge then rose to say that Singh was only mentioning the irregularities in the elections, but Harivansh said that these matters are before the Supreme Court.

Singh then referred to Union home minister Amit Shah’s statement in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, in which he said that the government's policy is to “detect, delete [from voter rolls] and deport” undocumented immigrants.

“After the Bihar elections only 315 foreigners were found, of which only 78 were Muslims and the rest were Nepali Hindus. But this is not being announced and instead detention centres are being built in Uttar Pradesh. Instead of building schools and hospitals and giving mid-day meals and jobs to the youth, you are talking about building detention centres on taxpayers' money,” he said.

Trinamool Congress MP Dola Sen too focused much of her speech on the SIR, despite reminders from the chair that it cannot be made a part of the discussion. Sen however continued with her speech.

“In June, Sunali Khatun and six others were forcefully pushed into Bangladesh illegally. This was an inhuman attack on humanitarian and citizen’s rights in India. Eventually it was the Supreme Court that asked the government to act in an unbiased manner. Did anyone in parliament condemn this action?” she said.

Sen said that the SIR was “political genocide” and that the Modi government was not paying heed to the Supreme Court.

“Earlier citizens would decide who would form the government now the government is deciding who is a citizen and who is not,” she said.

Even the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), which is the BJP's ally in Tamil Nadu, pushed ahead with references to the voter roll revisions despite protests from the chair.

AIADMK MP M. Thambidurai said that in the Tambaram assembly constituency, 114 names were found registered at one house on the electoral rolls, while in another house 360 voters were found to have the same address.

“This is the pitiable condition in Tamil Nadu. That is why the AIADMK is supporting the SIR,” he said.

Amid protests from opposition members earlier in the House, Harivansh also said that a part of BJP MP Sudhanshu Trivedi’s speech that mentioned the SIR would also be removed.

The discussion on electoral reforms in parliament comes after the monsoon session ended in a stalemate between the opposition and the treasury benches on holding a debate on the SIR.

At the beginning of the winter session, the opposition said that the government can term the discussion any way it likes but that a discussion must be held, following which the debate on electoral reforms was agreed to.

The Rajya Sabha will continue the discussion on electoral reforms on Monday.

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