Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed says there is only one way to end a parliamentary session and that yesterday's session was also ended as per parliamentary rules.
This comes after MP for Vilufushi Constituency Hassan Afeef who was in charge of yesterday's session ended the session without putting the Tax Act Amendment bill to vote saying that there were not enough members to hold such a vote.
MP Afeef usually takes charge of the parliamentary session in the absence of the Speaker of the Parliament Mohamed Nasheed and Vice Speaker Eva Abdullah.
MP Afeef said that the vote cannot be held as the required quorum was not met which prompted MPs affiliated with the government to voice their outrage on the parliament floor.
But the MP left the chambers after ending the session amid the uproar from his fellow MDP MPs.
MDP Parliamentary Group leader and MP for Hithadhoo Uthuru Constituency Mohamed Aslam said to some media that MP Afeef acted against Parliamentary procedure when he ended the session yesterday.
Speaking at the beginning of today's session, Speaker Nasheed said that there is only one way to end a parliamentary session and that was to verbally say that the session was over.
Nasheed further said that although the Tax Act Amendment bill was sent back to the floor after Committee deliberations, a bill is put to the vote after a 3rd reading following the debate and that the bill did not have 3rd reading.
He clarified that only while the debate stage was carried out, the bill was not read for the 3rd time.
The government has been pushing the Tax Act Amendment Bill that would see a hike in taxes and the government has said that this was necessary to maintain the economic outlook of the country.
The controversial bill has divided the majority ruling party MDP itself and MP Afeef belonged to the MDP faction that has voiced their opposition to the bill.
