India’s opposition parties move to impeach Vice President Dhankhar

NEW DELHI: Indian opposition parties moved on Tuesday to impeach Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, a spokesman said, accusing him of being partisan in his role as chairman of parliament’s upper house, in a first such move in the country’s history.

Dhankhar’s office did not respond to a request for comment but Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said Dhankhar had been “extremely professional and impartial”. The step follows several weeks of disruption in parliament, where government and opposition parties have accused each other of not allowing legislative business by creating political controversies.

The vice president holds India’s second highest constitutional office, as well as being chair of the upper house of parliament. The vice president also acts as the country’s president if there is a temporary vacancy.

Although the move is symbolic as the opposition parties do not have enough votes to remove him, it is expected to worsen the fraught relations between the opposition and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government as Dhankhar was elected as a candidate of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

The opposition had “no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion” against Dhankhar for the “extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the council of states”, Jairam Ramesh, spokesman of the main opposition Congress party, said referring to the upper house.