Congress MPs allege routine disallowance of parliamentary questions

Senior Congress MPs Manish Tewari and Vivek Tankha have alleged that questions raised by parliamentarians are routinely being disallowed or left unanswered, weakening Parliament's ability to hold the government accountable. Tewari said more than 120 questions he submitted between September 2020 and August 2025 were disallowed, covering issues such as Chinese border incursions, terrorism from Pakistan, and crude oil imports from Russia. He added that repeated letters to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and the Secretariat had been ignored.

Tankha said he submitted around 90 questions in the Rajya Sabha during the current session but received answers to fewer than 10. He called the pattern a statement that the government is not answerable to Parliament, symbolising institutional decay. The allegations come after the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) said three sets of questions on its recent protests were disallowed in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session. CJP chief spokesperson Saurav Das said the questions sought information on NEET-UG 2026 fee refunds, paper leaks, and treatment of peaceful protesters.

The Lok Sabha's rules of procedure govern the admissibility of questions. Tewari linked the disallowance to frequent disruptions in proceedings, saying Parliament has become a gladiatorial arena for power rather than a chamber for deliberation. The CJP ended its agitation on July 25 after the government accepted its demands, including the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.