9 Bills approved in Council: Session adjourned sine die
Winter Session
Belagavi, Dec 21: The Legislative Council Session was held for ten days from December 10 to 21. The Council has approved total nine Bills which were approved by the Assembly. After receiving 47 questions, 22 were answered during Zero Hour, said Council Chairman K Pratap Chandra Shetty, who announced the adjournment of the Session sine die.
When the Session started at 11 am, Opposition members staged dharna demanding time for discussing North Karnataka development issue. At this time, the Council Chairman adjourned the Session till 12 noon. When the Session resumed after 12 noon, amidst the protest from Opposition members, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, House leader Dr Jayamala and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda presented two Bills which were approved in the Assembly, and got approval in the Council.
In this Session, 1347 questions were received. Among them, 123 questions were answered and answers were presented to 27 questions. Out of 1197 questions without dot signs, 889 questions were presented in the House. Under Rule 58, three suggestions were received during half an hour discussion. Under Rule 72, 224 suggestions were received and eight were answered and out of remaining 216 suggestions, answers were presented in the House for 41 suggestions. Under Rule 330, 105 suggestions were received and seven suggestions were discussed and answered in the Session and for 19 suggestions, answers were presented, he said.
Under Rule 59, three suggestions were received and among them, two were converted into Rule 68 and given the answers. Under Rule 68, two suggestions were received, said Council Chairman K Pratap Chandra Shetty.
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Misuse of power, money to control election mechanism seen during Maharashtra polls: Sharad Pawar
Pune (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed the misuse of power and money to control the entire election mechanism, which was never before seen in any state assembly or national polls, was witnessed in Maharashtra.
Pawar made the statement when he visited senior activist Dr Baba Adhav, who is protesting against the alleged "misuse of EVMs" in the recent state polls in Maharashtra.
Adhav, who is in his 90s, began his three-day protest at Phule Wada, the residence of social reformer Jyotiba Phule, in the city on Thursday.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), have been alleging manipulation of EVMs in the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections, which saw a landslide victory by the Mahayuti.
The Mahayuti, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP, won 230 out of 288 assembly seats in the November 20 polls, while the MVA managed just 46 seats.Talking to reporters, Pawar said elections were conducted recently in the country, and there is a restlessness among the people about these.
Baba Adhav's agitation represents this restlessness, he said.
He said, "There is a murmur among the people that the recent polls in Maharashtra saw 'misuse of power' and 'floods of money', which was never seen in the past. Such things are heard of in local-level polls, but taking over the entire election mechanism with the help of money and misuse of power was not seen before. However, we witnessed it in Maharashtra, and people are restless now."
He added that people were recalling late socialist ideologue Jaiprakash Narayan and felt somebody should take a step forward.
"I heard Baba Adhav has taken a lead into this issue and is agitating at Phule Wada. His protest gives hope to the people, but it is not enough. A mass revolt is necessary, as the danger of the parliamentary democracy getting destroyed looms," Pawar said.
The former Union minister said those who have reins of the country in their hands are least bothered about this.
"Despite widespread discussion over it (alleged misuse of EVMs) in the country, whenever the opposition tries to raise the issue in the Parliament, they are not allowed to speak. Opposition leaders have been seeking an opportunity to speak on these issues for six days, but their demands have not been accepted even once. It shows they want to attack parliamentary democracy," he claimed.
He said Dr Adhav's protest is a fine example of someone revolting against the issue and expressed confidence that his protest will create a ripple effect.
