Lokpal Fail
Here’s the result on the voting in the Lok Sabha on whether or not the Lokpal should attain constitutional status. The vote failed.
The government needed 273 votes which is over 50 % of the total membership of the house. Apparently about 15-20 MPs who would have supported the UPA government were not in Parliament at the time of this vote, a costly number at such a crucial juncture.
In any case, the government’s bid to push through the Lokpal failed in the Rajya Sabha two nights later on 29 December.
The bill will come back before the Rajya Sabha in the budget session in 2012.
Day one of the December protest by Team Anna at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi hardly drew any supporters in comparison to the stellar turnouts during the August demonstration. The proportion of journalists, cameramen and technicians from the media was incredibly high in relation to the number of attendees at the protest.
