NEW DELHI: Amid an uproar by the Opposition over the breach of Parliament security and statements from the Home Minister, the Upper House of Parliament passed two bills on Monday by a voice vote, following the introduction of the bills by MoS Nityanand Rai.
The bills in question are the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Second Amendment). They were presented in the Rajya Sabha and passed amidst protests by opposition parties, who demanded that Union Home Minister Amit Shah make a statement on the security breach that occurred on December 13.
The Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill aims to ensure that one-third of the total seats are reserved for women in the legislative assembly of the Union Territory of Puducherry. The Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Second Amendment) Bill stipulates that one-third of the seats shall be reserved for women in the legislative assembly of the union territory of J&K.
The bill states, ‘As may be, one-third of the seats reserved under Sub-section (7) of Section 14 (of the J&K Reorganization Act, 2019) shall be reserved for women belonging to the SC or the STs in the legislative assembly of the union territory of J&K.’ After the passage of the bills, Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar stated that the security breach is a matter of ‘collective concern.’
On Monday, the Rajya Sabha proceedings witnessed two adjournments in the morning session and resumed at 4 pm, with opposition parties led by the Congress raising the issue of the Parliament security breach.