Ahead of no-trust vote, Speaker accepts resignation of Jay Panda

New Delhi, July 19

The effective strength of the Lok Sabha has reduced to 533 with two more seats falling vacant, sources in Parliament said on Thursday, after Speaker Sumitra Mahajan accepted BJD MP Baijayant Jay Panda’s resignation and Jose K Mani of Kerala Congress (M) was nominated to Rajya Sabha.

Mani quit the lower house after being nominated to Rajya Sabha.

The developments come as Parliament is set to take up on Friday the Opposition-sponsored no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi government.

Ten seats are lying vacant and therefore the majority mark in the house now stands at 266.

Panda, who represented the Kendrapara constituency in Odisha, had resigned on June 12. He met Mahajan on Wednesday and requested her to accept his resignation.

Later, he tweeted about his meeting with the Speaker.

In January this year, the parliamentarian was suspended from the Biju Janata Dal for alleged anti-party activities.

The Lok Sabha will on Friday debate and vote on the no-confidence motion against the Modi government--the first since the BJP-led NDA came to power four years ago--after the Speaker admitted their notices.

The no-trust motion in Parliament that was moved and accepted by Speaker Mahajan for the first time in 15 years, however, does not pose a threat to the government as the NDA enjoys a comfortable majority. PTI