New Delhi, July 18:
In a dramatic development, a Joint Committee of Parliament examining a bill on removal of prime minister and chief ministers detained on serious charges decided to defer the adoption of a draft report when voting was underway on each of the five recommendations made by the panel.
The joint committee on 130th Amendment Bill had made the five recommendations in its draft report which was circulated to members recently.
On Friday, when the committee was voting on each of the recommendations separately, it was decided that more consultations with stakeholders and discussions among members were required.
AIMIM’s Asaduddin Owaisi and NCP (Sharad Pawar) MP Supriya Sule had submitted their dissent notes but withdrew them after the panel decided to defer the adoption in the last minute.
“The joint parliamentary committee unanimously said that we needed more consultations with stakeholders,” said panel chief Aparajita Sarangi (BJP).
Members present in the meeting said voting on two of the recommendations was already done and discussions were underway on the third when the decision was taken to defer the adoption of the draft report.
Interestingly, a few ruling party members had also voted against the first two recommendations. However, these were adopted with majority votes.