Lok Sabha was adjourned on Friday until Monday after the Opposition leaders creating ruckus demanding a discussion on alleged irregularities in the NEET-UG examinations and ‘failure’ of National Testing Agency (NTA) that conducts the exams.
The Members of Parliament (MPs) from Opposition parties, including the Congress, moved adjournment motions demanding discussion on the issues in both the Houses, a demand that chairpersons of both the houses rejected. The decision to move these motions was taken in a meeting of the floor leaders of the INDIA bloc held on June 27 at Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in the national capital.
Congress MPs Ranjeet Ranjan and Gaurav Gogoi move adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha while Congress MP Syed Naseer Hussain moved the motion in Rajya Sabha.
आज विपक्ष के नेता के नेतृत्व में राज्यसभा के 22 सांसदों ने देश भर में लाखों युवाओं के जीवन को तबाह करने वाले NEET और NET घोटालों पर तत्काल चर्चा के लिए नियम 267 के तहत एक नोटिस दिया। स्पष्ट रूप से सरकार के पास छिपाने के लिए बहुत सारी बातें हैं। चर्चा की अनुमति नहीं दी गई और इसलिए…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 28, 2024
The session in Lok Sabha began by the Speaker Om Birla reading out the obituary references to members of the House who have passed away recently. After the references, the Speaker insisted that the discussion on Motion of Thanks to President’s Address be taken first.
“We wanted to send out a message from the Parliament to the affected youth of the country that the government and the opposition are concerned about you. That is why we had demanded a discussion before we could discuss the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address,” leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said.
After the first adjournment till noon, the House convened again. The opposition MPs continued their protest and the speaker Om Birla adjourned the house till Monday.
“Never before in the history of Parliament has anything else been discussed during the Motion of Thanks to President’s Address. I assure that the government will answer all questions but after Motion of Thanks to the President’s address,” said Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said in Lok Sabha.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Rajya Sabha too where chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar adjourned the House amid ruckus by INDIA bloc MPs demanding discussion on NEET. The proceedings of Rajya Sabha continued after first adjournment till noon, however.
Held on May 5, the NEET-UG exam for admission to medical colleges has been mired in controversy due to allegations of question paper leaks and irregularities. The results of the exams were declared on June 4. The CBI on June 27 made its first arrests in the NEET-UG paper leak case, taking two people into custody in Patna, Bihar.