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The Opposition sponsored motion to remove the Speaker Om Birla was defeated by a voice vote in Lok Sabha.

At the fag-end of the 13-hour long debate in the Lower House the decision of the House was very much on the predicted lines.

The opposition sponsored motion was ruthlessly defeated by a voice vote amidst non-stop sloganeering by the Congress MPs who had moved into the Well of House.

On Tuesday Congress MP Mohammad Jawed supported by 117 MPs had formally move a rare motion seeking removal of the Speaker of Lok Sabha.

The trouble in Lok Sabha started while the Home Minister Amit Shah was replying to the debate from the Treasury Benches.

In his reply Amit Shah criticised the Opposition for questioning the Speaker’s impartiality and the foundations of parliamentary democracy.

The Congress led motion was based on allegations of partisan conduct by Om Birla, including the suspension of a record number of MPs and the continued vacancy of the Deputy Speaker post. 118 MPs signed the notice, citing concerns over the Speaker’s handling of debates and the muting of Opposition microphones.

In his observation during the debate, the Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi stated that “This house is the expression of the people of India. This house does not represent one party. This house represents the whole country. Every time we get up to speak, we are stopped from speaking.”

Senior BJP MP Jagdambika Pal who marshalled the major part of the proceedings concluded that motion could not be put to vote as majority of the opposition MPs were in the Well of the House. And also the prime mover of the no-confidence motion, Mohammad Jawed, did not availed the opportunity to wrap-up the debate albeit the prevailing chaos on the floor of the House.

Thus the rate motion against the Speaker of the Lok Sabha was defeated by a voice vote.

It may be recalled that the last time when such a historic motion was admitted in Lok Sabha to remove the Speaker was in 1987 against Balram Jakhar.