Govt passes telecom, criminal bills as suspended MP count reaches 143

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday passed four crucial Bills with voice vote while the Opposition was absent and two more members of the House — Thomas Chazhikadan of the Kerala Congress (Mani) and A M Ariff of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) — were suspended.

The total number of suspended members of Parliament (MPs) from the Lok Sabha now stands at 97. Since December 14, 143 Opposition MPs have been suspended from both the Houses after demanding a statement from Union Home Minister Amit Shah on the security breach in the Lok Sabha on December 13.