By IANS
New Delhi : An MP from Kerala believes that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's decision to be re-elected to the Rajya Sabha instead of the Lok Sabha is a "serious constitutional impropriety".
Sebastian Paul, an independent MP in the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led Left Front, said the Congress should have taken a corrective measure by facilitating the election of the prime minister to the Lok Sabha to enable him to become the leader of the party in the lower house.
"It will give him an opportunity to secure popular endorsement for his governance," Paul said in a statement here.
Manmohan Singh is expected to be the Congress candidate for one of the two seats that go to the poll from Assam during the biennial Rajya Sabha elections.
This would be the fourth consecutive term in the upper house for Manmohan Singh, whose six-year-term ends this month.
"A serious constitutional impropriety is being perpetuated by the decision of Manmohan Singh to retain his parliamentary membership by winning a Rajya Sabha seat from Assam," Paul said.
Saying the prime minister was responsible to the Lok Sabha, Paul said: "Keeping the best democratic traditions in view, and also to ensure the smooth working of the governmental machinery, Singh should seek election to the Lok Sabha."
He cited the well-established convention in England that the prime minister should belong to the House of Commons as it is "elected on the popular basis, (it) reflects the public opinion more truly and faithfully than does the House of Lords.
"(Former prime minister) Indira Gandhi was a member of the Rajya Sabha when she became the prime minister in 1966 but soon thereafter she became a member of the Lok Sabha," Paul pointed out.