Congress acts after Triple Talaq vote defeat, orders MPs to be present in Rajya Sabha without fail

Congress party on July 31 issued a three-line whip to its Rajya Sabha MPs, demanding them to be present in the Upper House of Parliament from 11 AM till the adjournment of the House from August 1-7.

"All Congress members in Rajya Sabha are requested to kindly present in the House for 11 am onwards till adjournment of the House from August 1-7 without fail and support the party stand. This may be treated as MOST IMPORTANT," the letter issued in the matter read.

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This development has come days the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill seeking a ban on instant triple talaq in a historic move. Notably, five Congress MPs including Mukut Mithi, KTS Tulsi, Vivek Tankha, Ranjib Biswal and Pratap Singh Bajwa skipped the Rajya Sabha sessions. They were not present in the House, even after the Congress party had issued a whip to its MPs to be present in the Rajya Sabha for the Triple Talaq bill. Their absence from the debate led to a embarrassing loss of the Opposition in scoring a winning number over the Bill, even as the BJP was not in majority in the Rajya Sabha. The bill was passed in the upper house of Parliament passed with 99 votes in its favour and 84 against.

Furthermore, Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Singh, who jumped the ship from Congress to BJP on Thursday also did not participate in the voting. The Grand Old Party had been opposing the Bill in Parliament, questioning certain provisions of the bill including the jail term for the Muslim man.

The sittings of the Upper House of the Parliament, who were scheduled to conclude till July 26,  have been extended upto August 7 in order to transact government legislative businesses.

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