New Delhi: Samajwadi Party MLA Atul Pradhan protested in Vail on Tuesday after livestreaming the proceedings of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly via Facebook, prompting the Speaker to ask him to leave the House and suspend him for the entire session.
Speaker Satish Mahana said that it has come to his notice that Samajwadi Party MLAs were protesting in the Well of the House over alleged irregularities and police atrocities during the bypoll to Rampur assembly seat, while a member went live on Facebook. .
The speaker later said that he had verified that it was SP MLA Atul Pradhan who was asked to leave the House for the entire session. While the Sardhana MLA immediately walked out of the House, the SP members requested the Speaker to review his decision as the first-time MLA was not aware of the assembly rules. Asserting that “ignorance of the law is no excuse”, the Speaker said: “Pradhan will not be allowed in the House. However, on insistence, the Speaker allowed him to attend the proceedings after 1 pm on Tuesday .
Earlier in the day, as soon as the proceedings of the House started at 11 am, the Samajwadi Party members raised the issue of alleged police arbitrariness in Rampur on Monday. SP MLA Manoj Pandey alleged that the police barged into people’s homes and beat them.
The SP MLAs reached the Well of the House and raised slogans against the government. The SP had given notice under Rule 56 of the House and demanded adjournment of the proceedings for discussion on the Rampur case.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Khanna refuted the allegations leveled by the opposition members and claimed that nothing wrong happened and polling in Rampur was peaceful.
Mahana said he was ready to allow the opposition to raise the issue as per rules. He asked the opposition members to restore order and go back to their seats. However, the opposition refused to relent, due to which he had to adjourn the House for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, the state assembly was adjourned sine die on Tuesday. The Business Advisory Committee of the House had approved the agenda of the House for the three sittings. However, the proceedings of the House were adjourned only after two sittings.
