THE bloc vote on Budget 2018 on November 20 was frivolous, says Dewan Rakyat Speaker Pandikar Amin Mulia.

Pandikar today said as speaker, he had discretionary powers to allow bloc voting or not so as to avoid frivolous requests.

He said the bloc vote on the Supply Bill portion for the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Ministry was done while some members of parliament were performing their prayers.

“If you wanted to vote against the budget, it should have been done after the third reading.

“The vote must have good intentions. What happened that day was that, as some Parliament members were praying, they (the opposition) saw the Dewan was not filled, and came together to request a bloc vote,” he said.

Pandikar was responding to a motion under Standing Orders 43 requested by Gobind Singh Deo (DAP-Puchong).

Last week, the government narrowly won the debate on a portion of Budget 2018 at the committee stage by one vote in the Dewan Rakyat after the opposition attempted to call for a division vote when few Barisan Nasional MPs were present.

Debate on the bill had just wrapped up when G. Manivanan (PKR-Kapar) called for a division vote.

Deputy Speaker Ronald Kiandee announced that the bill was approved by bloc voting with 52 MPs voting in support, 51 against and two abstaining. He said no provisions of the standing orders had been breached, saying there was no mention of the time frame or votes from those who came in late that should not be counted. – November 27, 2017.