On December 14, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh dismissed the opposition’s motion for a no-confidence vote against Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar. This marked the first such attempt to remove the head of the Upper House since India’s independence. Harivansh criticized the motion for being hastily drawn, incomplete, and aimed at discrediting the Vice President, calling it a publicity stunt lacking in substance.
The motion, filed on December 10 by around 60 MPs from the INDIA bloc, alleged that Dhankhar had acted in a biased and partisan manner since taking office in August 2022. However, Harivansh ruled that the notice had several technical flaws, including misspelled names, the absence of a specific addressee, and missing supporting documents. Furthermore, he pointed out that the motion violated constitutional provisions, specifically Article 67(b), which requires a 14-day notice for any resolution involving the removal of the Vice President. He emphasized that the motion should have been considered only after December 24, 2024, given the timing of the current Rajya Sabha session.
In his ruling, Harivansh denounced the motion as a “calculated attempt to malign the Vice President” and warned that such efforts could undermine the prestige of India’s constitutional offices. He further criticized the opposition for not adhering to parliamentary decorum and for trying to generate negative publicity around Dhankhar’s tenure.
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, a key figure in the opposition’s motion, responded by accusing Harivansh of misrepresenting facts in the ruling. Ramesh claimed that he had received an apology from the Rajya Sabha Chairman following a previous letter, which he now believed had been misused in the ruling. Despite the ongoing controversy, the no-confidence motion was dismissed, with Harivansh declaring it a frivolous and improper attempt to damage the reputation of a constitutional institution.
