NEW DELHI (PTD) A high drama of suspense with a considerable mea sure of confusion contributed by a faulty electronic voting device preceded the defeat of the Panchayati Raj and Nagarpalika bills for granting greater autonomy to self-governing bodies in Indian parliament in the wee hours of Saturday.
The 64th and 65th constitution amendment bills went through a nearly two hour long tortuous voting path before finally falling through for lack of the requisite majority.
The voting through the electronic device on the motion to consider the first bill gave a patiently incorrect result. Showing 152 ayes, 76 noes and one abstention, where as the number of members present and voting was 241.
Opposition leader M.S. Gurupadaswamy and others disputed the figures flashed by the electronic board. Officials of the upper house (Rajva Sabha) secretariat spent considerable time, checking the result before chairman Shankah Dayal Sharma finally announced the defeat of the motion amidst cheers from most of the opposition members. The motion is not carried, Sharma declared, ending the nerve-wracking suspense.
The result 158 for, 83 against and one abstention was two short of the required two-thirds majority of 160.
The electronic voting device again gave wrong figures when the division was gone through for the second bill, leading to prolonged consultations among officials. It was finally decided to resort to voting by paper, the time-honoured method.
The result this time was 157 for and 83 against. Now three short of the requisite 160. “The motion is not carried,” said Dharma amidst vigorous thumping of desks by most of the op- position members.
Prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, sitting stoically all through, went up to the chair and shook hands with Sharma as ruling party members raised slogans of “long live Rajiv Gandhi.”
Then as the clock showed a few minutes to one a.m., Sharma announced the adjourning of the house sins die.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 20, 1989
