New Delhi, 10 Dec

Opposition parties on Tuesday submitted a notice to move a motion for removing Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar for allegedly conducting the House in a partisan manner.

Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Naseer Hussain submitted the notice to Rajya Sabha Secretary General PC Mody. The vice president is the ex-officio chairman of Rajya Sabha.

The sources said about 60 Opposition MPs -- including from the Congress, RJD, TMC, CPI, CPI-M, JMM, AAP, DMK -- have signed the notice. However, they said top Congress leaders who hold Constitutional posts have not signed the notice.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the floor leaders of various Opposition parties are also not among the signatories, the sources said.

The notice, spearheaded by the Congress, comes in the wake of turbulent ties between Opposition parties and the Rajya Sabha chairman. "ALL parties belonging to the INDIA group have had no option but to formally submit a no-confidence motion against the learned Hon'ble Chairman of the Rajya Sabha for the extremely partisan manner in which he has been conducting the proceedings of the Council of States. It has been a very painful decision for the INDIA parties to take, but in the interests of parliamentary democracy they have had to take this step," Congress General Secretary (In-charge, Communications) Jairam Ramesh posted on X.

TMC MP and its Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Sagarika Ghose said, "Signed by all and being moved today (on Tuesday) against Vice President. We do not have the numbers to win, but it is a strong message to fight for parliamentary democracy. Nothing against individuals, this is a fight for institutions."

The Opposition has been upset with Dhankhar over multiple issues, the latest being him allowing the members of the treasury benches to raise the Cong-Soros "link" issue in the Upper House. The minimum required numbers for moving a motion to remove the vice president is 50.

Congress MP Digvijaya Singh had accused the Rajya Sabha chairman of being partisan.

INDIA bloc parties had in August this year also considered submitting a notice for moving a resolution to remove the vice president from his office.

According to Article 67(b) of the Constitution, "Vice-President may be removed from his office by a resolution of the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) passed by a majority of all the then members of the Council and agreed to by the House of the People; but no resolution for the purpose of this clause shall be moved unless at least fourteen days' notice has been given of the intention to move the resolution."