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E Ahamed's Death: Speaker to Decide if Union Budget Will be Postponed

News18.com

First published: February 1, 2017, 8:31 AM IST | Updated: 0 mins ago

Parliament of India

New Delhi: The sudden death of Lok Sabha MP and former Union minister E Ahamed has cast a shadow over the Budget presentation on Wednesday.

Union Minister for finance Santosh Gangwar said a final call if the Budget will be postponed as a mark of respect towards the deceased member would be taken by Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan.

Constitutional expert Subhash Kashyap told a TV channel there were two options in front of the Speaker. The House can either make an obituary reference and move on with the rest of business, or adjourn the session for a day.

Ahamed, national president of the Indian Union Muslim League and MP from Malappuram, Kerala, suffered cardiac arrest on Tuesday on the first day of the Budget session.

Sanjay Hegde, Constitutional Expert and Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court, felt the Budget need not be postponed.

“Even if a Lok Sabha MP passes away there is no legal bar to stop the budget presentation. House has its own convention and it will be followed accordingly. May be a two minute silence will be followed, but there will be no change in the budget presentation schedule,” he told News18.

Meanwhile, Ahamed’s family accused that the authorities at the Ram Manohar Lohia where he was rushed to refused to allow them to see.

“Doctors told us that he was declared dead at 2.15 am, but we doubt this,” one of them told CNN-News18.

News channels in Kerala reported the family had filed a police complaint in this regard.

“This is absolutely unethical,” said Ahmed’s daughter Fouzia, herself a doctor.

The other IUML MP from Kerala, ET Mohammed Basheer, said not allowing the son and daughter of Ahmed to visit him in his last moments was cruel to say the least.