MC House unanimously supports demand for Rajya Sabha seat to Chandigarh

Cutting across party lines, the Chandigarh municipal corporation General House unanimously supported the demand for a Rajya Sabha seat for the UT and power to the councillors to elect the city’s representative to the upper house of the Indian parliament.

The House, in its meeting held here on Monday, was taking up the proposed private member bill introduced by Congress MP from Anandpur Sahib Manish Tewari in the Lok Sabha. The UT Administration had sought the MC’s opinion, after receiving it from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

What the proposed bill demands

The bill seeks to amend the Constitution with a view to provide one seat to Chandigarh in the Rajya Sabha. The representative would be elected by an electoral college consisting of elected members of the MC.

The bill seeks for amendment to Article 80 and Fourth Schedule of the Constitution.

The bill provides that one person shall be elected to the Council of States from Chandigarh. “Just as the Delhi Metropolitan Council served as the electoral college for electing three persons to the Council of States from Delhi from 1966 to 1990, it is proposed that an electoral college consisting of the elected members of the municipal corporation, Chandigarh…shall for the purposes of providing representation to Chandigarh constitute the electoral college for the same.”

The union territories of Puducherry, Jammu and Kashmir and the National Capital Territory of Delhi have representation in the Rajya Sabha, while Ladakh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli — Daman and Diu, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep are unrepresented in the upper house.

During the debate, the councillors also demanded that Chandigarh should have a Vidhan Sabha (legislative assembly on the lines of Delhi)