Indian Parliament’s Upper House Reshuffles Vice-Chairpersons, Achieves 50% Women Representation

On Monday, the Chairman of Rajya Sabha (Upper House of the Indian Parliament) and Vice President of India, Jagdeep Dhankhar declared that the panel of vice-chairpersons has been reshuffled with 50 per cent parliamentarians as women, and the possibility of a future increase.

Kanta Kardam, Sumitra Balmik, and Geeta alias Chandraprabha, all members of parliament for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and Mamata Mohanta, a member of parliament for the Biju Janata Dal Party, will be the four women on the eight-person panel.

Dhankhar proclaimed on the opening day of the Special Session of Parliament, which took place in the Upper House.

“The House members are informed that the panel of vice-chairpersons has been reconstituted with effect from September 13, 2023. Honourable members will be happy to note that 50% of the vice chairpersons happen to be women,” Dhankhar remarked.

At least half of the new panel of vice chairpersons are women, and the Chairman hinted that this percentage could rise in the future.

If both the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman are unable to preside, the Vice-Chairpersons may do so.

In addition to Trinamool Congress‘s Santanu Sen and the Congress’s Akhilesh Prasad Singh, the YSRCP’s V Vijayasai Reddy and the Aam Aadmi Party‘s Narain Dass Gupta, were also announced as panel members.

The Parliament will be in a special session from September 18-22.