Opposition to boycott examination of video clip

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The video footage of the voting on the Appropriation Bill will be examined on Wednesday amidst the threat from the Opposition camp to boycott the process.The decision to examine the footage was taken in the background of the Opposition allegation that a ruling party member cast bogus vote for an absentee. Speaker G Karthikeyan’s office said that the video footage would be examined at 4 p.m. on Wednesday. However, the Opposition said it would boycott the examination citing delay in the process which would have helped the ruling front to manipulate the footage.Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that they had created a controversy over the issue. The Opposition members will have to hang their heads in shame after the examination, he said. The LDF  had earlier lashed out at the Speaker’s stand on the enactment of the Appropriation Bill terming it ‘undemocratic’.They alleged that the Bill was passed without majority and that one of the ruling party members had cast bogus vote and asked the Governor to convene an emergency session of the House for it.They also alleged that the Speaker had delayed the voting procedure knowing that some treasury bench legislators were absent.The Opposition has 68 legislators in the 141-member house, while the treasury bench’s strength is 73, including the speaker.It was claimed that Finance Minister K M Mani deliberately lagged his speech to give sufficient time for the MLAs who were not present in the House to return and participate in the voting. Dissatisfied with the Speaker’s role, the Opposition had staged a walkout over the issue.