Two More Opposition MPs Suspended From Lok Sabha For Displaying Placards, Total Count Reaches 143 In Winter Session

On Wednesday (20 December), the Lok Sabha suspended an additional two opposition MPs for displaying placards in the House, The New Indian Express reported.

The House adopted a resolution moved by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, resulting in the suspension of Thomas Chazhikadan from the Kerala Congress (Mani) and A M Ariff from the CPI(M) due to their misconduct.

Both of these lawmakers are from Kerala which takes the count of MPs suspended in the Lok Sabha to 97.

To date, 143 MPs from the opposition have been barred from the two Parliamentary Houses during the Winter Session.

On Monday, 78 opposition Members of Parliament, comprising 33 from the Lok Sabha and 45 from the Rajya Sabha, were suspended due to their disruption of parliamentary proceedings. Notable figures among the suspended include the Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, DMK's T R Baalu, and Sougata Ray from the Trinamool Congress (TMC).

The suspension of 49 Lok Sabha MPs occurred on Tuesday due to their disruption of House proceedings. The suspended individuals included NC leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress leaders Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari, Karti Chidambaram, and NCP's Supriya Sule.

On Tuesday, members of the opposition staged a demonstration at the Makar Dwar of the new Parliament building, expressing their discontent over the suspension of MPs.

They also conducted a mock version of House proceedings. Kalyan Banerjee of TMC, performed an impromptu skit that satirically represented the House proceedings, even imitating the presiding officers.

A number of opposition members, among them Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, convened to demonstrate against the MPs' suspension since December 14. They chanted slogans against Home Minister Amit Shah, demanding his statement on the security breach in Parliament.