12 Oppn parties petition Naidu on ballot system

New Delhi: Leaders from 12 opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha have sent a notice to Chairman Venkaiah Naidu for a discussion on electoral reforms. The opposition parties want to raise the issue of bringing back the ballot system of voting in general elections and also funding of political parties during elections.

In Lok Sabha, however, there is no floor coordination among the opposition parties, who often take an individual stand on various issues, as was witnessed on Friday, when the Triple Talaq Bill was put to vote for the introduction.

In Rajya Sabha, Congress, TMC, CPI, CPM, RJD, SP, BSP, DMK, Kerala Congress and TDP signed a joint petition in this regard. They also tried to get parties like the BJD on board but did not succeed. TMC leader Derek O'Brien said he was hoping that the issues would come up for discussion in the first week of July after the presentation of General Budget.

On Friday, at the morning meeting of leaders of the Rajya Sabha, it was proposed that no Bill would be passed without scrutiny in either the Standing Committee or the Select Committee. Parliament Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi, who was present in the meeting was, however, non-committal.

In the Upper House, opposition parties have an edge over the treasury benches in numerical terms. They are likely to insist that the Triple Talaq Bill be sent to the Standing Committee. At the moment, opposition parties have a strength of 108 against the NDA's 100 including 4 TDP members who crossed over to the BJP on Thursday. Opposition parties are hoping that NDA ally JD(U), with six members, might not back the Triple Talaq Bill. Other parties like YSR Congress, Telangana Rashtra Samithi might also not support the Bill.

In the Lok Sabha, TMC MP Saugata Roy during the Zero Hour submission on Friday said that if Home Minister Amit Shah sent advisories to the West Bengal government twice every week, then they would be unable to cooperate with the Centre on many issues. Derek O'Brien on Friday introduced a Private Members Bill on making it compulsory to have 100 days of Parliament session every year.