New Delhi: In a huge relief to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, the amendments moved by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Biju Janata Dal (BJD) and the Left Front on the President's Address were defeated in the Lok Sabha after division of votes.
During the division of the votes, the Trinamool Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party abstained, while in another major development the Samajwadi Party withdrew its motion and voted with the government to defeat the Opposition-sponsored motions.
However, BJP MP and Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj, who had moved one of the motions on the NCTC, drew Speaker Meira Kumar's attention to the fact that even though the division of the vote on the party's motion showed that 141 MPs were in its favour while 226 were against it, the government was in a minority as it failed to reach the simple majority mark of 272 in the 545-member House. Sushma Swaraj had insisted on the division after a voice vote.
Similarly, the motion moved by Basudeb Acharya of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was defeated with 227 voting against it, 146 in favour and one abstention.
The proposed anti-terror body has received widespread condemnation from several non-Congress ruled states and chief ministers who say that it would violate the federal structure of the country and the rights of the states.
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee defended her MPs abstaining from the vote on NCTC saying that the anti-terror body would be worse than the TADA and POTA and so there was no question
of voting in favour of it.
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