141 Opposition MPs suspended from Parliament: How many lawmakers remain?

As many as 49 MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha for disrupting House proceedings on Tuesday (19 December). This comes a day after the suspension of 33 members from the lower house and 46 MPs from the Rajya Sabha, most of whom were thrown out for the remainder of the ongoing Winter Session. The suspension of 78 MPs on Monday was the highest-ever in a single day.

With 14 lawmakers already barred from Parliament last week, a total of 141 MPs now stand suspended in the Winter Session. The development comes as Opposition INDIA bloc MPs have been demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the 13 December Parliament security breach.

Who were suspended today? How many lawmakers remain in Parliament? Let’s take a closer look.

49 Opposition MPs suspended

The prominent lawmakers suspended from the Lok Sabha include National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah, Congress MPs Shashi Tharoor, Manish Tewari and Karti Chidambaram, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Supriya Sule, and Samajwadi Party’s Dimple Yadav.

S Jagathrakshakan and DNV Senthil Kumar of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), Giridhari Yadav of the Janata Dal (United), MP Danish Ali – who has been suspended from the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and Sushil Kumar Rinku of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are some others who have been barred from the lower house.

Parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi moved a motion for the suspension of the Opposition MPs, saying they were “frustrated” about the results of the recent Assembly elections.

“They had agreed not to bring placards. They are frustrated with their loss, so taking such steps. These people will not come back in the House next time if this behaviour continues,” Joshi said, as per Hindustan Times (HT). 

“They are insulting the chair and the people of India by bringing placards,” he added.

Opposition MPs react to suspension

After being suspended, Congress MP Tharoor said the Opposition has to start writing “obituaries for parliamentary democracy in India”.

“It is clear that they want an Opposition-mukt Lok Sabha and they will do something similar in Rajya Sabha. At this point, unfortunately, we have to start writing obituaries for Parliamentary democracy in India…Today, in solidarity with my colleagues, I too joined the protest and everybody who was present has been suspended for the rest of the session which means they want to pass their Bills without any discussion,” he was quoted as saying by ANI.

#WATCH | On suspension of more than 40 MPs from Lok Sabha, including his own, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor says, “…It is clear that they want an Opposition-mukt Lok Sabha and they will do something similar in Rajya Sabha. At this point, unfortunately, we have to start writing… pic.twitter.com/mh9LeXEgiB

— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2023

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who was suspended on Monday, told ANI on the suspension of 49 more Lok Sabha members, “It is nothing but anarchy being played inside the Parliament. They (BJP) do not have an iota of faith in the parliamentary system in our country.”

Karti Chidambaram claimed he was suspended eve though he was not holding a placard. ‘’I have no idea why I was suspended. I didn’t raise slogans or a placard. I was standing in the aisle. Also, Dimple Yadav wasn’t even standing in the aisle. She was standing in her allocated space. This has to be a technical suspension,” he told ANI. 

#WATCH | Congress MP Karti Chidambaram says,”…It is a mechanical exercise of the government to purge Parliament of all the opposition voices…This is soon going to resemble the North Korean Assembly. The only thing missing right now is the synchronised clapping.” pic.twitter.com/j6bwjbg9X2

— ANI (@ANI) December 19, 2023

On the MPs suspension, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal accused the government of “wanting to make the new Parliament a graveyard of democracy.”

“I have no words. What did they think before constructing this new Parliament building? They want to make this the graveyard of democracy…You have thrown out the entire Opposition. No action has been taken against the MP who issued passes (to the security breach accused).

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the Narendra Modi-led government can now “bulldoze important pending legislations, crush any dissent, without any debate”. He made the statements in a post on X on Monday.

He made similar charges today, calling the saffron party “autocratic” and accusing it of wanting to “demolish democracy in this country”.

The suspension of a total of 141 Opposition MPs from Parliament reinforces our charge that an autocratic BJP wants to demolish Democracy in this country.

We all know that key Bills like the Criminal Law Amendments, which unleash draconian powers and impede citizen’s Rights, are…

— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) December 19, 2023

Notably, the crucial three criminal code bills have been taken up for consideration and passing in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.

Who is left in Parliament now?

Of the 142 MPs belonging to the INDIA alliance in the 543-member Lok Sabha, 95 stand suspended, as per BBC. It must be noted that the current strength of the House is 522, as 21 seats are vacant.

Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi, TR Baalu, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran from the DMK, and Trinamool Congress leaders Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy were among the key members suspended from the Lok Sabha on Monday.

In the lower house, 323 members are either from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or its ally party. About 47 Opposition lawmakers still remain in the lower house.

In the Rajya Sabha, which has a maximum of 250 seats, some are currently vacant. The INDIA grouping has 101 MPs in the upper house, of which 46 have been barred.

After the suspension, many of the Opposition MPs left in Parliament are from YSR Congress Party and the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), both of which have previously backed the ruling BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on crucial Bills, noted NDTV.

With inputs from agencies