92 MPs barred from Parliament: Have so many lawmakers been suspended before?

More than 70 MPs, including Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, were suspended on Monday (18 December) for disrupting Parliament proceedings. While 30 Lok Sabha MPs have been suspended for the remainder of the ongoing Winter Session, three members – Vijay Vasanth, K Jayakumar and Abdul Khaleque – reportedly faced suspension pending the report of the Privileges Committee on their conduct.

Congress’ Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Gaurav Gogoi, TR Baalu, A Raja and Dayanidhi Maran from the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), and Trinamool Congress leaders Saugata Roy, Kalyan Banerjee, Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar and Satabdi Roy are among those suspended from the Lok Sabha, reported NDTV.

In Rajya Sabha, 35 members have been barred for the rest of the Winter Session, while the suspension of 11 Opposition MPs will last till the Privileges Committee submits a report.

Congress MPs Jairam Ramesh and KC Venugopal, DMK’s Kanimozhi and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader (RJD) Manoj Kumar Jha are among those suspended from the Upper House.

VIDEO | “In today’s dark period of democracy, suspension is a badge of honour. What for? Because we are asking for an official statement (from the Home Minister)?” says RJD MP @manojkjhadu on suspension of MPs in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha amid Centre-Opposition stalemate over… pic.twitter.com/MuJZmfWhUk

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 18, 2023

This is the highest number of MPs suspended from both Houses in a day so far. Last week, 14 MPs were suspended — 13 from Lok Sabha and one from Rajya Sabha – for raising slogans and disrupting Parliament proceedings. Now, the total number of suspended legislators stands at 92 in this session.

The lawmakers have been demanding a statement from Union home minister Amit Shah over the Parliament security breach last week.

The en masse suspension of MPs in Parliament is not a new development. Let’s take a look at when dozens of lawmakers were suspended earlier.

1989

A total of 63 MPs were suspended from Parliament under the Rajiv Gandhi-led Congress government a little over three decades back. On 15 March 1989, an uproar erupted in the Lok Sabha over the tabling of Justice Thakkar Commission of Inquiry into the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

As many as 63 MPs who were protesting the report were suspended for a week. “An Opposition member belonging to the Janata Group (Syed Shahabuddin) who had not been suspended, submitted that he also be treated as suspended and walked out of the House. Three other members (GM Banatwalla, MS Gill and Shaminder Singh) also walked out in protest,” Indian Express cited a PRS Legislative Research report as saying.

2022

As many as 19 MPs demanding an urgent discussion on price rise and GST hike were suspended from the Rajya Sabha for a week on 26 July last year. This came a day after four Congress MPs were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the rest of the session for displaying placards.

2021

As many as 12 MPs were suspended from Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session in November 2021 for “unprecedented acts of misconduct, contemptuous, unruly and violent behaviour and intentional attacks on security personnel” towards the end of the Monsoon Session in August.

2020

On 21 September, eight Rajya Sabha MPs were suspended for alleged unruly behaviour a day before. Those barred from the Upper House included TMC’s Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen, AAP’s Sanjay Singh, Congress leaders Rajeev Satav, Syed Nazir Hussain and Ripun Bora, and Elamaram Kareem and KK Ragesh from the CPI-M.

The Lok Sabha suspended seven Congress MPs in March for “gross misconduct” after they stormed into the Well and snatched papers from the Speaker’s table. These lawmakers were protesting the remarks of a Rajasthan MP on COVID-19 that targeted the then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

2019

The then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 45 members over two days in 2019 for creating ruckus. First, 24 AIADMK members were suspended for five consecutive sittings. The next day, Mahajan suspended 21 MPs of AIADMK, Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and YSR Congress, reported Times of India (TOI).

Other instances

In August 2015, the then Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan suspended 25 Congress MPs for five days for “persistently, willfully obstructing” the House. The legislators were carrying placards and shouting slogans in the Well, calling for the resignations of the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and the then Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje over Lalit Modi controversy and the then Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan over Vyapam scam, as per PTI.

The then Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar suspended 18 MPs from Andhra Pradesh for the rest of the session in February 2014 for unprecedented pandemonium in the House over the Telangana issue.

In 2013, 12 members from Andhra Pradesh were suspended from Lok Sabha for five days for disrupting the proceedings while opposing the formation of the creation of Telangana.

How are MPs suspended?

Rule Number 373 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business empowers the Lok Sabha Speaker to ask any member to “withdraw immediately from the House” if they deem their conduct to be “grossly disorderly”.

The Speaker can invoke Rule 374A which states that “grave disorder occasioned by a member coming into the well of the House or abusing the Rules of the House, persistently and wilfully obstructing its business by shouting slogans or otherwise…”. The concerned member, “on being named by the Speaker, stands automatically suspended from the service of the House for five consecutive sittings or the remainder of the session, whichever is less”, reported Indian Express. 

Similarly, Rule Number 255 of its Rule Book allows the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha to “direct any member whose conduct is in his opinion grossly disorderly to withdraw immediately” from the House.”

“…Any member so ordered to withdraw shall do so forthwith and shall absent himself during the remainder of the day’s meeting.”

The Chairman may “name a member who disregards the authority of the Chair or abuses the rules of the Council by persistently and wilfully obstructing” business.

In such a scenario, the Upper House can adopt a motion suspending the MP for a period not exceeding the remainder of the session, noted Indian Express. 

With inputs from agencies