Parliament Budget Session 2026 LIVE updates March 10: Opposition storms Lok Sabha with no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla signed by 118 MPs over Rahul Gandhi being denied speech. Congress MP Mohammed Jawed moves resolution; 10-hour debate cleared. Rajya Sabha chaos as Mallikarjun Kharge brands ECI's Special Intensive Revision of voter lists “fraud” – Chairman shuts him down, Opposition walks out. Protests, sloganeering, vote theft allegations rock both Houses on Day 1. Full live coverage, key quotes, political fallout.
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| Opposition members protest in the Lok Sabha amid the ongoing Parliament Budget Session, on March 10, 2026. Picture: YouTube/@sansadtv |
The opening day of the Budget Session in Parliament on March 10, 2026, felt less like a debate chamber and more like a battlefield. From the moment the Lok Sabha bell rang at 11 AM, the air thickened with chants, placards, and pointed fingers. In the well of the House, Opposition benches erupted in unison: “Vote chori band karo!” – stop vote theft. The target? Not just the government, but the very person presiding over the proceedings – Speaker Om Birla.
Congress MP from Assam, Gaurav Gogoi, set the tone early. Rising during Zero Hour, he accused the Chair of systematically silencing the Opposition, especially Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi. “The LoP has been repeatedly denied the right to speak on critical issues – from Manipur violence to electoral integrity,” Gogoi said, voice cutting through the murmurs. “This is not partisanship; this is suppression of democracy inside Parliament itself.”
The charge landed like a grenade. Within minutes, Congress floor leader Mohammed Jawed moved a formal resolution seeking removal of the Speaker – a rare no-confidence motion against the Chair. Backed by signatures from 118 Opposition MPs (Congress, TMC, SP, DMK, AAP and others), the motion alleged “grossly partisan conduct” and “repeated denial of fair opportunity to the principal Opposition leader.” After heated back-and-forth, the House agreed to allot a full 10-hour debate on the resolution – a concession that itself spoke volumes about how seriously the treasury benches were taking the challenge.
Across the corridor in Rajya Sabha, the mood was no calmer. Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge took the floor to blast the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in multiple states – Bihar, Maharashtra, Assam, West Bengal among them. “This is not revision; this is fraud,” Kharge thundered, waving copies of complaints from booth-level agents. “Millions of genuine voters, especially from minority and Dalit communities, are being struck off lists under flimsy pretexts. This is engineered disenfranchisement ahead of crucial polls.”
Chairman C.P. Radhakrishnan wasn’t having it. He interrupted sharply: “The matter of electoral reforms was exhaustively debated in the previous session. Every member had time to speak then.” When Kharge persisted, calling the SIR process “a fraud on the Constitution,” the Chair expunged the remark and warned against “unparliamentary language.” Frustrated, Opposition members – Congress, TMC, Left – staged a brief walkout after displaying placards reading “ECI = Vote Bandits” and “Save Voter Rights.”
Leader of the House Jagat Prakash Nadda hit back hard. “The Opposition is not allowing any meaningful discussion,” he said. “They come prepared only to disrupt, not to debate. This is the same pattern we’ve seen session after session.” In the Lok Sabha, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was in the middle of answering starred questions on PM-KISAN, crop insurance and new MSP mechanisms when the noise peaked. He paused, turned to the Chair: “This is an important discussion for crores of farmers. But the Opposition prefers sloganeering over solutions. Shameful.”
The irony wasn’t lost on watchers. While the government pushed its farm-welfare narrative, the Opposition painted a picture of institutional capture – from the Speaker’s chair to the Election Commission’s voter lists. Rahul Gandhi, who has been unusually restrained in recent weeks, became the symbolic flashpoint. Sources close to the Congress leadership said the LoP had sought to speak on three separate occasions in the last month – once on ethnic violence in Manipur, once on price rise, and once on alleged irregularities in voter deletions – but was never called.
Why now? Timing matters. The SIR exercise has triggered massive outrage in opposition-ruled states and among migrant-heavy constituencies. In Bihar alone, reports claim over 40 lakh names flagged for verification, many belonging to seasonal workers who move to Gujarat, Maharashtra or Delhi. Opposition leaders allege the deletions disproportionately hit Muslim and Dalit voters – a charge the ECI has dismissed as “baseless and politically motivated.” With assembly polls looming in several states later this year, every voter on (or off) the roll counts.
The no-confidence motion against the Speaker is unlikely to pass – NDA’s numbers are comfortable – but it serves a bigger purpose: framing the narrative of a “compromised” Parliament. If the 10-hour debate goes ahead, expect fireworks. Rahul Gandhi is expected to lead the charge, armed with examples of denied speaking slots, expunged remarks, and what the Opposition calls “selective adjournment” tactics.
As the day wore on, the two Houses adjourned amid continuing protests. In the visitors’ gallery, school students from Patna watched wide-eyed as MPs waved placards and shouted across the aisle. Outside, TV crews jostled for soundbites. One Congress worker from Bihar summed it up bluntly: “They’re not just fighting for Rahul ji’s mic. They’re fighting for every voter’s name on the list.”
Parliament’s Budget Session has begun, but the real budget – of trust in institutions – is already in deficit.
LIVE UPDATES (March 10, 2026, afternoon IST):
1:45 PM IST: Lok Sabha clears 10-hour debate on no-confidence motion against Speaker Om Birla.
12:50 PM IST: Rajya Sabha Opposition walks out after Chairman expunges Kharge’s “fraud” remark on SIR.
12:10 PM IST: Shivraj Singh Chouhan condemns protests during farmer welfare Q&A.
11:35 AM IST: Gaurav Gogoi accuses Speaker of “gagging” Rahul Gandhi; 118 MPs back no-trust motion.
Ongoing: Heavy sloganeering in both Houses; “Vote chori band karo” chants echo.
The session has miles to go, but the battle lines are already drawn in ink and fury.
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