Winter Session 2023: How many Opposition MPs left in Parliament after record suspension?
Winter Session 2023: As many as 49 opposition MPs were suspended from Lok Sabha for the remainder of the winter session on Tuesday including Farooq Abdullah, Supriya Sule, Dimple Yadav, and Shashi Tharoor, This comes a day after 33 MPs were suspended for "misconduct."
With this, the ruling BJP faces almost no opposition in either House of Parliament. So far, 141 MPs, including those from the Rajya Sabha, have been expelled. This Winter Session, which will be Parliament's final full sitting before next year's general election, has three days left.
So, how many opposition MPs are left?
More than 300 MPs in the Lok Sabha are members of the BJP or an allied party. With today's suspensions, there are only about 100 opposition lawmakers left in the Lower House.
There are fewer than 100 opposition MPs left in the Rajya Sabha to question the ruling party.
Many of the opposition lawmakers who remain are from parties like Andhra Pradesh's ruling YSR Congress Party and Odisha's ruling Biju Janata Dal, which have backed the BJP on a variety of issues, including the passing of controversial bills when the ruling party lacked sufficient support.
Among those expelled from Parliament this session are Shashi Tharoor and Karti Chidambaram of the Congress, Supriya Sule of the NCP, Dimple Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, and Farooq Abdullah, the National Conference leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister.
The mass suspensions come amid loud protests over last week's Parliament security breach; the opposition has demanded that either Prime Minister Modi or Home Minister Shah make a statement in the House to explain how and why such a major breach occurred, especially on the 22nd anniversary of a terror attack on the old Parliament building that killed nine people.
- With inputs from agencies
