Rajya Sabha adjourned till 2 PM amid Opposition protest over Bihar voter rolls revision issue

The Rajya Sabha proceedings were washed out in the pre-lunch period on Wednesday as the House witnessed two adjournments after Opposition's protest over the issue of special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.

The House was adjourned till 2 PM within minutes of meeting, following a first adjournment soon after it met for the day at 11 AM.

When the House reconvened at 12 noon, Ghanshyam Tiwari, who was in the Chair, called the Question Hour to be taken up, but Opposition members were on their feet and demanded that the SIR issue be discussed.

Protesting members ignored requests by the Chair to allow the Question Hour to proceed, forcing him to adjourn the House till 2 PM. He earlier called the name of CPI's Sandosh Kumar P to ask his supplementary question, but he started raising the SIR issue.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and leaders of other Opposition parties were on their feet creating uproar. Congress Legislature Party leader Sonia Gandhi was also present in the House.

Earlier, the Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon within minutes of the House meeting for the day. Opposition members created uproar following rejection of their adjournment notices demanding discussion on various issues, including Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Soon after the listed papers were tabled, Deputy Chairman Harivansh informed that he has received 25 notices under Rule 267 demanding discussion on SIR, demolition of slums in Delhi, alleged discrimination against migrant workers from Bengal in other states, and air safety.

The Chair, however rejected all the adjournment notices, which led to huge protest and sloganeering by MPs of different Opposition parties.

Harivansh urged the House to at least allow Vaiko (MDMK) to raise his Zero Hour mention saying his Rajya Sabha term was ending on July 24.

Vaiko raised the issue related to increasing incidents of arrest of Indian fishermen by Sri Lanka even as the protest continued.

Amid uproar, the proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon at around 1110 AM.

On Tuesday also, the Rajya Sabha witnessed several adjournments, mainly on SIR matter, and could not conduct any substantial business.