Rajya Sabha presiding officer has voted on legislation only once, for opposition

It was only once in last 67 years of Rajya Sabha's history that its presiding officer voted on any legislation, who also voted in favour of opposition, according to a publication released on Sunday to mark the landmark 250th session of the upper house.

Venkaiah Naidu, chairman of the upper house, released the publication 'Rajya Sabha: The Journey since 1952' at a meeting of the floor leaders of political parties at his official residence.

"The first and the only time when a Presiding Officer of Rajya Sabha cast his vote was when the Panel Chairman Shri MA Baby did so on May 8, 1991 when the voting was tied 39-39 on the Statutory Resolution moved by the opposition seeking disapproval of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Ordinance resulting in the victory of the opposition in the House," the Rajya Sabha Secretariat said in a statement.

 

Baby is a CPI(M) leader and was member of the upper house from Kerala from 1986 to 1992 and then from 1992 to 1998.

The secretariat also shared various details related to functioning of Rajya Sabha.

According to the publication, Rajya Sabha passed 3,817 bills in the last 67 years and 5,466 sittings of it were held. It amended 120 bills and rejected five bills passed by Lok Sabha.

So far, it had a total 2,282 members, which include 208 women and 137 nominated. The number of women members doubled from 15 in 1952 to 31 in 2014.

The Rajya Sabha approved the President's Rule only twice; President's Rule was extended in Tamil Nadu and Nagaland in 1977 and in case of Haryana in 1991 when Lok Sabha was dissolved.

The only time Rajya Sabha adopted a motion for removal of a judge was in respect of Justice Soumitra Sen of Calcutta High Court in August 2011 but he resigned before the motion was taken up in Lok Sabha.