In order to support the party position to vote against the bill to replace the ordinance on control of services in Delhi when it is brought up in the House by the government during the monsoon session of Parliament, Janata Dal (United) issued a three-line whip to the party’s Rajya Sabha MPs on Thursday. This included Deputy Chairman House Harivansh.
For the first time in his entire tenure, Deputy Chairman Harivansh has been issued a party whip, according to his office. All MPs have received a whip, according to Aneel Prasad Hegde, the JD(U)’schiefwhip in the Rajya Sabha.
“We have issued a whip to all our MPs. I will need to check if this was sent earlier as well to the Deputy Chairman. All MPs have been issued a whip. This time I am the Chief Whip of the party and the whip has been issued to all five Rajya Sabha MPs of the party.”
A whip to Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha, which is a constitutional post, is highly unusual.
Former Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien told ANI that this should not have been done. He said role of Deputy Chairman is that of an umpire.
“I was never given a whip by my party to vote in any direction. Since I was in a constitutional post, I was given full freedom to do my duty. Parties do not send a whip to the Deputy Chairman as he is an umpire,” Kurien said.
The ordinance introduced by the Center in May that excluded “services” from the legislative authority of the Delhi legislative assembly is intended to be replaced by the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023. Days after the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the control of services in Delhi, the ordinance was introduced. The JD-U MPs have been given a three-line whip that will be in effect from July 27 until August 11, when the monsoon session of Parliament will come to an end. JD(U) is a member of the 26-party opposition coalition known as I.N.D.I.A.