Voice Vote in Indian Parliament not a good idea

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  Voice Vote in Indian Parliament not a good idea

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• Voicing concern: The practice of resorting to voice vote and passing bills despite lack of a majority is increasing, and that may not be a healthy sign at all. The Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill was passed by the State’s Legislative Council by voice vote in Feb 2021.
• How the Bill was passed: The law was passed by the Upper House despite the lack of a majority. A division vote based on actual voting is the usual practice and the Opposition members had demanded the same. Instead, the presiding officer just declared the Bill passed by voice vote without any division!
• Problem with process: A similar process was followed to pass the controversial farm laws (by the Rajya Sabha) in September 2020. The government seemed to lack a majority to pass the bills in the Upper House, and instead of a division vote, a voice vote was deemed to be adequate by the Deputy Speaker of the House. In both these cases, the disturbance caused in the House by the Opposition was used as a pretext to resort to a voice vote. 

1. Given the controversy around the farm laws, the government has repeatedly invoked multiple consultations around these laws.But finally, legislations were passed without an actual legislative majority voting has not been given due attention. And both were first passed as ordinances!
2. Once they were tabled in the legislature, the governments insisted on the Bills not being referred to the legislative committees in either case.
3. This was despite the fact that the Opposition repeatedly raised the demand.

• Money Bill route: The voice vote method supplements the other technique repeatedly deployed over the last few years to bypass the Upper House of the Parliament. It is the Money Bill route, which is increasingly used in instances even where the laws concerned would not easily fit within that definition. Most notoriously, the Aadhaar Bill was passed in this manner, a matter that then went to the Supreme Court.
• Other examples: The other controversial laws passed in the same manner include - (i) laws pertaining to electoral bonds, (ii) retrospective validation of foreign political contributions, (iii) the overhaul of the legal regime relating to tribunals, etc.
• Clear signal: The increasing use of the Money Bill route was defended by the Leader of the Rajya Sabha, who condemned the repeated questioning by the indirectly elected Rajya Sabha of the wisdom of the directly elected Lok Sabha. Underlying this common sentiment is a tendency to devalue bicameralism itself. The Lok Sabha is seen as directly representing the will of the people, and the Rajya Sabha as standing in its way. Democracy itself is seen purely in terms of parliamentary majority in the Lower House. So, the countervailing function of the Upper House is now rarely seen as legitimate.
• Rajya Sabha's significance: It has historically stopped the ruling party from carrying out even more significant legal changes. The notorious Emergency-era 42nd Constitutional Amendment could not be repealed in toto by the post-Emergency Janata regime. This is essentially because the Congress continued to have a strong presence in the Rajya Sabha. The Rajiv Gandhi government’s proposed 64th Constitutional Amendment Bill on Panchayati Raj was narrowly defeated in the Rajya Sabha. This was even though it enjoyed the highest ever majority in Lok Sabha. 
• Bicameralism crucial for India: The two Houses are chosen by different processes of representation and elected on a different schedule. The very questioning of the monopoly of the Lower House to represent the ‘people’ makes bicameralism desirable. In India, the Rajya Sabha membership is determined by elections to State Assemblies. This leads to a different principle of representation, often allowing different factors to prevail than those in the Lok Sabha elections. The second chamber’s performance of a review role becomes particularly important. Bicameralism is especially significant in a Westminster system like India, where the Lower House is dominated by the executive.

Read more on - Polity | Economy | Schemes | S&T | Environment

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