Money Bills passed amidst pandemonium

Uditha Kumarasinghe, Rajmi Manatunga and Irangika Range

KOTTE: The Government yesterday saw through the passage of five Monetary Bills amidst scenes of unprecedented pandemonium and violence with legislators trading blows in the Chamber of the House.

The uproar began when Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe rose to question the validity of the novel electronic voting system which was used for voting and counting votes on the first Bill, holding the view that the procedure was not sanctioned by the Standing Orders.

The argument which was also supported by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) who had decided to vote against the Bills, led to a commotion inside the Chambers with certain Opposition members stomping their way towards the Mace with Government MPs attempting to obstruct their path.

After the Mace was shielded by the Sergeant-at-Arms and the Parliament Security, members of the United National Party and the JVP who gathered on the aisle protested the continuation of the manual voting procedure by the Speaker shouting the slogan "down with taxes" while holding out their mobile phones.

The situation turned into a fierce altercation when UNP Parliamentarian Mahinda Ratnatilleke snatched the Bills from the Speaker's hands followed by an on rush of by some Government Members onto the Speakers rostrum to prevent his attempt. In the melee, blows were exchanged liberally by rival MPs with more members joining in the fisticuffs.

As the scuffle continued, Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara took the vote on the four remaining Bills and announced that all five Bills - two amendments to the Finance Act, Regional Infrastructure Development Levy (Amendment) Bill, Excise (Special Provisions) (Amendment) Bill and Special Commodity Levy Bill - were passed with a majority. The Government MPs marked their vote with 'ayes' and raising their hands while the Opposition abstained.

It was for the second time that the electronic voting procedure established along with the Parliament sound system failed since its establishment in 2001.

Even when the procedure was used for the first Bill, two votes had to be taken as the number of votes cast in favour and against the Bill exceeded the number of MPs present on each side.