The treasury benches in the rajya Sabha on Monday committed a faux pas during the voting on the ordinance on food security, which led to confusion and held up proceedings in the House for some time.
The problem began when chairman Hamid Ansari called for a voice vote on statutory resolution moved by Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley disapproving of the ordinance on food security issued on July 5.
Members from the treasury benches, who were supposed to say “nos” inadvertently said “ayes”. However, they realised their mistake and said a resounding no when the chair again put the question to them.
Deputy leader of BJP in RS Ravi Shankar Prasad said since members have already said “ayes”, the Opposition resolution got the majority.
At this, Prof Ansari said that the only solution to the situation is to seek a division.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla said members from Treasury benches did not say “ayes” but if the opposition insists, then the only solution is division of votes.
Further delay was caused due to technical snags in the electronic voting system in the House when the division began. Voting was done once again because of the technical glitch.
Finally after two attempts the resolution was negated by 118 votes against and 92 in favour.