New Delhi | Congress leader K C Venugopal on Tuesday submitted a privilege notice against Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for allegedly casting aspersions on Members of Parliament during his address to the nation after the failure of bills to implement women reservation.

In his notice submitted under rule 222 of the the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha, he noted that on April 18, the prime minister addressed the nation on national television, following the defeat of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Lok Sabha on April 17, which failed to secure the required two-thirds majority as required under the provisions of Article 368 of the Constitution.

He said in the 29-minute speech termed as 'address' to the nation, the prime minister criticised opposition parties for blocking the bill and made direct reflections on the voting pattern of members of the Opposition and attributed motives to them.

Venugopal said it is well established that casting reflections, aspersions, imputing motives to members of Parliament in regard to speeches made by them in Parliament tantamounts to "gross breach of privilege and contempt of the House".

"I, therefore, submit this notice of breach of privilege to your good office, Hon'ble Speaker, to take cognizance of this grave incident as a clear and deliberate breach of privilege and contempt of the House, and to refer the matter to the Committee on Privileges of Lok Sabha for a detailed inquiry so that privilege proceedings can be initiated against the prime minister," Venugopal said in his notice.

The Congress leader said this matter deserves to be treated with the utmost seriousness, as questioning an elected representative performing his duty "is not merely a personal assault but a direct affront to the authority of Parliament and to the democratic rights of the people of India".

"I urge you, the Hon'ble Speaker, to take immediate and decisive steps to uphold the sanctity of Parliament and the constitutional protections afforded to its Members, so that such violations are neither ignored nor repeated," his notice to the Speaker said.

"Addressing the nation by the prime minister on government not able to muster requisite majority in Parliament, for criticising the Opposition parties is unprecedented which is unethical and blatant abuse of power. Such statements by the highest executive functionary of the country constitute a serious breach of privilege and contempt of the House," Venugopal alleged.

Tagging Venugopal's letter, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "My senior colleague in Lok Sabha, KC Venugopal, has issued a notice of question of privilege against the Prime Minister for his so-called address to the nation following the defeat of his nefarious designs in the Lok Sabha by something he did not expect-absolute Opposition unity and solidarity." A sitting PM's address to the nation has always been reserved for the overriding purpose of national unity and confidence-building, he said.

"The prime minister's unabashed partisan demagoguery during this address - with 59 different attacks on the Congress party - will be yet another permanent stain on his record as prime minister," Ramesh said.

Venugopal said in his notice that the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026, "in the guise of implementing Women's reservation in Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies "surreptitiously sought to amend Article 82 of the Constitution in as much as by doing away with constitutional protection/guardrail vis a vis Delimitation and leave it to the whims and fancies and mala intents of the ruling party" and this is what the opposition members were protesting.

Claiming that the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2026, sought to strike at the very roots of the basic structure of the Constitution, and "fell and rightly so", he said, it is appalling that the prime minister was so annoyed that he chose to address the nation while casting aspersions on MPs who were honestly performing their duties, and in this case protecting the Constitution.

"Hence these observations by the prime minister, cast aspersions on the independence and integrity of elected Members of Parliament, question the manner in which members of the Opposition exercised their parliamentary duties; and attribute motives to their voting behaviour," Venugopal noted in his notice.

He also claimed that as per parliamentary convention and a fundamental privilege of every Member (protected under Article 105 of the Constitution) no person, including the prime minister, shall reflect upon the conduct or voting of any member in the House or attribute motives to such conduct.

"Any such reflection or imputation directly undermines the dignity and authority of the House and interferes with the free and independent discharge of parliamentary duties by its members. Apart from the violation of the Model Code of Conduct, the prime minister's speech on national television, therefore, amounts to a clear and serious breach of privilege of the House and of every member of the Opposition," Venugopal said.