Parliament Winter Session LIVE: Amit Shah Addresses Lok Sabha On SIR Debate

Congress General Secretary and MP KC Venugopal launched a blistering attack on the NDA government in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday while opposing the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, accusing the Centre of systematically destroying the independence of the ECI.

“The idea of an impartial electoral umpire has been openly crushed. The Election Commission has now collapsed under political pressure and has become partisan,” Venugopal said, while the Lok Sabha continued to debate on electoral reforms, adding that the right to vote is not a mercy granted by any government but a fundamental principle of democracy.

The national mental health telephone helpline handled close to 30 lakh calls since its launch in October 2022, averaging nearly two calls every minute, government data furnished to Parliament showed on Wednesday.

Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha that the government launched a “ Tele Mental Health Programme” on October 10, 2022, to improve access to quality mental health counselling and care services in the country.

Opposition members in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday made a strong pitch for returning to paper ballot in elections, saying it will restore confidence of the electorate in the electoral process as questions have been raised on the reliability of EVMs.

Participating in the debate on ‘Election Reforms’, opposition members contended that reverting to the paper ballot system was a fair proposition.

The government has repeatedly ruled out going back to the ballot paper system as EVMs have made election process faster and safer.

Opening the debate, Congress MP Manish Tewari said that when the electors stand in long queues, they must have the confidence that their votes are reaching the right destination.

Lok Sabha proceedings commence with the Question hour.

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Deputy Chairperson, Rajya Sabha, Harivansh, LoP Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge and other Parliamentarians offer floral tributes to freedom fighter C Rajagopalachari in Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan.

Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, on Tuesday reiterated his allegations of “vote chori”, accusing the Election Commission of colluding with the ruling BJP to “shape elections”.

The Bharatiya Janata Party, meanwhile, accused the Congress of subverting the country’s institutions through constitutional amendments during its regime.