No voting on N-deal in LS: Speaker

Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee ruled that there would be no voting after the scheduled debate on the contentious Indo-US nuclear deal, offering the government much-needed relief in the current controversy among both Left and Right parties over the Indo-US civil nuclear deal.

Chatterjee said the deal "" commonly known as the 123 agreement after the relevant clause in the US Atomic Energy Act "" would be discussed under rule 193 of the Lok Sabha's conduct of business rules, which does not involve voting at the end of discussion.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had demanded that the 123 agreement be discussed under rule 184, which would have required putting it to the vote.

By avoiding voting, the government has found a way out for themselves and their Left allies, who oppose the deal and would have been in a spot if the deal had to be voted on.

Now, the discussion will take place under a simple resolution, which says: "That this house do consider the statement made by (the) prime minister on 13 August in the House regarding (the) Indo-US nuclear deal".

A number of members of Parliament "" mainly from the Left parties "" have submitted this motion under Rule 193. The government has accepted this.

Chatterjee ruled that the Constitution had give the Union government sovereign rights to enter into international treaties. His ruling was that the government does not need parliamentary ratification of these treaties.

The BJP motion was worded to demand a renegotiation on the deal. According to Chatterjee: "By asking to renegotiate, this in effect disapproves the agreement and requires the government not to give effect to the agreement in its present form. The House has no competence to do it."

Giving the constitutional reasons, Chatterjee added, "What cannot be done directly, cannot be achieved directly."

The government's floor managers had been trying very hard to avoid voting on the Indo-US nuclear deal, especially since the Left has voiced strong objection to it.

This is the first break for the government, which has been reeling from the intensity of the Left assault on the agreement.