Monsoon Session: 20th Rajya Sabha MP suspended for tearing papers, throwing them towards Chair

One more Rajya Sabha MP was suspended on Wednesday for this week in the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Parliament. Aam Aadmi Party MP MP Sanjay Singh was suspended for shouting slogans, tearing papers, and throwing them towards the Chair, said Deputy Chairman Rajya Sabha Harivansh Narayan.

On Tuesday, 19 MPs from the Upper House were suspended on Tuesday for the remainder of the Monsoon Session of the Parliament for storming the Well of the House and shouting slogans. These 19 MPs belong to Trinamool Congress, DMK, TRS, CPI and CPI-M. This is the highest number of Parliamentarians to be suspended in one go.

These suspended MPs are Sushmita Dev, Mausam Noor, Shanta Chhetri, Dola Sen, Santanu Sen, Abhi Ranjan Biswar, Md Nadimul Haque from TMC; DMK's M Hamamed Abdulla, S Kalyanasundaram, M Shanmugam, R Girranjan, NR Elango, and Dr Kanimozhi; TRS MPs B Lingaiah Yadav, Ravichandra Vaddiraju, and Damodar Rao Devakonda; CPI's Sandosh Kumar and CPI-M MPs AA Rahim, V Sivadasan.

Deputy Chairman Harivansh repeatedly asked these MPs to return to their seats but when they refused, he asked the treasury benches to move a motion for their suspension. Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs V Muraleedharan moved a motion to suspend 10 MPs from the remainder of the week for their "misconduct" by showing "utter disregard to the House and authority of the chair".

But when Harivansh put the motion to vote, he read out the names of 19 members. The motion was passed by a voice vote.

"Narendra Modi and Amit Shah have suspended democracy... what are you talking about MPs?" said TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien on the suspension of 19 MPs.

Yesterday, four Congress MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha for this session for protesting against price rise, GST, and other issues. Many members trooped into the well of the House during Question Hour, shouting slogans and displaying placards. Rajendra Agarwal, who was chairing the proceedings, suspended Manickam Tagore, TN Prathapan, Jothimani and Ramya Haridas.

Since the start of the monsoon session of Parliament on July 18, opposition parties, including the Congress, have been protesting against price rise, GST and various other issues.

Earlier, 12 opposition members were suspended in November last year, as some of them had climbed on the table, flung papers and damaged property.