August 16th. 2023. Newly reinstated Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi has been nominated to the Standing Committee on Defence. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla nominated four Opposition MPs – two from the Congress and one each from NCP and AAP – to different Parliamentary committees on Wednesday evening. The Wayanad MP had been a part of the committee prior to his disqualification in March this year.
While Congress MPs Rahul Gandhi and Dr Amar Singh have been nominated to the Committee on Defence, newly elected AAP MP Sushil Kumar Rinku (the party’s sole representative in Lok Sabha) was nominated to the Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processing. Meanwhile, Lakshadweep MP Faizal PP Mohammed was flagged for the Committee on Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution. The NCP leader had also found himself briefly disqualified as a lawmaker before his Lok Sabha membership was restored in March this year.
Standing Committee members consider annual reports and demands for grants, examine Bills referred to them by the relevant House and more. These Committees do not consider matters of day-to-day administration the related Ministries.
“With the emphasis of their functioning to concentrate on long-term plans, policies and the philosophies guiding the working of the Executive, these Committees are in a very privileged position to provide necessary direction, guidance and inputs for broad policy formulations and in the achievement of the long-term national perspective by the Executive,” explains an FAQ document uploaded on the Lok Sabha website.
Gandhi had been disqualified as a Lok Sabha member on March 24 after a Gujarat court convicted him in the ‘Modi surname’ case and sentenced him to two years in jail. His membership to the Lower House of Parliament was restored on August 7 as the Supreme Court stayed his conviction in the 2019 defamation case.