Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh on Tuesday rejected allegations of “forged signature” in a motion moved by fellow AAP leader Raghav Chadha in Rajya Sabha proposing a Select Committee of the House to examine the Delhi Services Bill, pointing out that no one’s signature is required to make a proposal and that named members are free to accept or reject it.
The allegations of fraud were made by Home Minister Amit Shah in the Rajya Sabha after five MPs of the Upper House — S Phangnon Konyak, Narhari Amin and Sudhanshu Trivedi of BJP, M Thambidurai of AIADMK and Sasmit Patra of BJD — said that their name was included in the proposal without their consent.
“Two members [BJD MP Sasmit Patra and BJP MP Dr Sudhanshu Trivedi] are saying that they have not signed the motion (to be part of select committee) moved by AAP MP Raghav Chadha. Now it is a matter of investigation how the motion was signed,” Shah said in the Rajya Sabha on Monday. He termed it a breach of privilege of the House and called for the matter to be referred to the privileges committee.
However, Singh, in a video shared on Twitter, said that rules state that any member can propose the name of a fellow member to be included in the Select Committee without the need for their signature. He added that members across party lines can be proposed for the Select Committee and if they do not want to join it, that is up to them.
“Don’t you know that no one’s signature is required to propose the name in the Select Committee? Do not spread lies and rumours, Home Minister,” Singh said.
“The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Council of States, which has been quoted by Members moving privilege against Raghav Chadha nowhere provides that there is a requirement of written consent or signature of the member whose name has been proposed to be included to the Select Committee,” an AAP source told the news agency ANI, adding that Chadha had no intention of “cornering” any member.
