NEW DELHI: The president gave his assent to the constitution (76th)amend bill enabling the Govt to extend president’s rule in Punjab for another 6 months beyond Nov 10.
Earlier, both houses approved the bill after a brief debate.
‘The bill was passed by the upper house of the parliament after a 4 hour discussion, with the main parties, the ruling National Front and its supporting allies the BJP and the Left Front as well as Rajiv Gandhi’s Congress (I) supporting it.
In the upper house, 212 members voted for the bill and 4 against. The 4 were Subramaniam Swamy (Janata), S.S Salaria National Conference, J.S. Aurora (Akali Dal) and B.S. Mann (IND). A prominent ruling party member not present in the house during the voting was Ram Jethmalani.
Replying to the discussion, the minister of state for home affairs Subodh Kant Sahay said a political process had been initiated, for holding the assembly elections. At present the conditions were not conducive to holding elections, as 4 border districts were not under their control, he said.
Members cutting across party lines urged the Govt to stop the drift in the state and launch an action plan for bringing about normalcy there.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 12, 1990
