Fri. Mar 29th, 2024
President of India [CC BY 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Various members of principal opposition parties have revealed that they have initiated efforts to move an impeachment motion in the Parliament against incumbent Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra over various charges of arbitrary use of power, favouritism in assigning cases and damaging the Supreme Court’s credibility.

News reports suggested that several senior leaders of topmost opposition parties have started gathering requisite support for bringing up a motion of impeachment. These parties include Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party (SP), Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).

Any such motion of impeachment initially requires signatures of at least fifty members of Parliament, which senior opposition leaders have already started collecting. This should not be a difficult task for them as they enjoy a clear majority in the Rajya Sabha and have enough members in the Lok Sabha also.

Plans for the impeachment motion have been discussed even during recent senior-level meetings held by opposition parties in a bid to create a unified front to counter the Narendra Modi-led BJP government. TMC chief Mamata Banerjee specifically mentioned this issue and said her party will support any consensus that opposition parties will gather.

It is also being said that certain national parties are playing their cards close to their chest and not taking an active stand on this issue yet. Some reports are attributing Congress party’s similar stand on this issue to advice by MPs and senior advocates like Chidambaram and Abhishek Sinhvi, who are said to be apprehensive about launching such a direct attack on the CJI.

By dhruv