What is unparliamentary?
The Rajya Sabha Secretariat has proposed a joint committee with the Lok Sabha for taking a fresh look at existing words and expressions declared “unparliamentary” that exist in a publication and decide upon its continuation. In a letter to his Lok Sabha counterpart, Snehlata Shrivastava, Rajya Sabha Secretary General Desh Deepak Verma has said, “I feel that over the span of time many unparliamentary words and expressions have lost their context or have become redundant. There seems to be, therefore, a need to relook into the matter to ascertain whether these words and expressions should continue to find place in the list.”
“Since the list of unparliamentary expressions are sought from the State Assemblies and Rajya Sabha is edited on a yearly basis by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, a committee consisting of members of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha could be constituted and go into the publication and submit a report,” Verma has suggested.
During the course of debate and discussions when members use a word or expression to which opponents object, Chair observes that the record would be checked to remove unparliamentary reference(s). At times, the Chair orders the record to be expunged straightaway for use of a word or expression that finds place in the published list.
‘Dog campaigning For BJP’
In north Maharashtra’s Nandurbar town, a dog with “pro-BJP stickers” on it was detained along with his master on the day of the fourth phase of polling on Monday. BJP’s rivals spotted Eknath Motiram Chaudhary (65) with his dog near a hospital. The dog was found covered with stickers bearing the BJP’s symbol and the message “Modi Lao, Desh Bachao (Vote for Modi and save the country)”.
“The dog and its owners were violating the Code of Conduct as campaign is not allowed on polling day,” a Congress worked complained. Chaudhary countered by saying, “I was not campaigning…I was just taking my pet on a stroll.”
The police registered a case against Choudhary and asked the municipal corporation to take custody of the dog.
EC Notice To Puri
Union Minister Hardeep S. Puri, who is BJP’s candidate from Amritsar in Punjab, has got a notice from the district election authority for giving Rs 500 to a person. Puri defended himself by saying that he gave the Rs 500 “as charity to a physically challenged person” whom he noticed was begging on the roadside during campaigning.
Puri is pitted against Congress’ sitting MP Gurjeet Singh Aujla and AAP’s Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal. Aujla is calling Puri an outsider. Puri is telling anyone who wants to hear that he has been visiting the Holy City for long, “even before Aujla was born”. Puri has said that he had adopted Mudhal village “after staying with a Dalit family” there for a few days in 2018. “I had personally overseen development works for Amritsar under the Smart City project and Rs 70 crore under HRIDAY,” he maintains. “When Arun Jaitley could not win from Amritsar, how will Puri win?” asked Aujla.
Amritsar’s Independents
The Amritsar constituency has three interesting independent candidates—an auto rickshaw driver, a dhaba owner and a daily wager.
Uneducated auto driver Mahinderjit Singh Bakri’s hobby is to contest elections. He first contested the Sikh Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee elections in 1975 and 1980. In 1992, he contested the Lok Sabha elections, for which he got 17 gunmen, a truck-sized vehicle and 20 litres of petrol free-of-cost daily. He also contested the Assembly elections in 2012 and the Lok Sabha elections in 2014. “I have not run out of gas,” he says with a smile.
Then there is Bal Krishan Sharma of “B.K. Dhaba”. This is his fifth foray into elections and third attempt in the Lok Sabha polls. “I have been serving Punjabi cuisine in my dhaba for four decades. I am also a social worker and philanthropist,” says Sharma. He claims that he had to foot the bill to cremate 514 unclaimed bodies and has distributed 600 carts for the sale of vegetables.
The other independent candidate is Sham Lal Gandhi. A daily wager with a catering firm, he goes for canvassing on a bicycle.