Congress mulls over no-confidence notice against Om Birla, reluctance of some Opposition parties gives it pause

As the Congress on Tuesday stepped up its protest against the “hasty” disqualification of Rahul Gandhi as a Lok Sabha MP, party MP Manish Tewari is learnt to have suggested to the leadership that it should give a notice to move a no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla.

The leadership asked Tewari to draft the notice and he handed it over on Tuesday. The party, sources said, had not yet taken a call on pursuing it. Sources said the leadership was not sure if the other Opposition parties would come on board. Sources said the leaders of some Opposition parties had signalled their reluctance to get behind such a move. The Congress leadership, sources said, does not want to do anything that may signal division in the Opposition camp.

According to the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, a member “wishing to give notice of a resolution … for the removal of the Speaker or the Deputy Speaker shall do so in writing to the Secretary-General” and “on receipt of a notice … a motion for leave to move the resolution shall be entered in the list of business in the name of the member concerned, on a day fixed by the Speaker, provided that the day so fixed shall be any day after fourteen days from the date of the receipt of notice of the resolution”.

Since the Budget Session of Parliament is set to conclude in a week, the move, even if pursued by the Congress, has largely symbolic value given that the motion can be listed only after 14 days from the date of the receipt of the notice. Some of the leaders said the idea could be pursued to make a political point.

In 2020, 12 Opposition parties submitted a no-confidence resolution seeking the removal of Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Harivansh. But then Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu rejected it on the ground that the resolution should serve a notice period of 14 days and that it was not in “proper format”.

In the past, resolutions seeking the removal of the Speaker have been given at least thrice — against the first Lok Sabha Speaker G V Mavalankar in 1951, Sardar Hukam Singh in 1966, and Balram Jakhar in 1987.