[Swatantra Party Minutes of Meeting]

Summary

This one-page memorandum records the Swatantra Party Executive Committee meeting held on 11 April 1968 at Parliament House, New Delhi. It lists the eleven members present and records approval of dates, principles, and procedures for electing party office-bearers and members of the Parliamentary Party’s Executive Committee. Nominations were to be submitted according to a schedule, with elections set for 30 April 1968; members also expressed the wish that the Leader’s term should last for the duration of the Lok Sabha.

Key points

• The Executive Committee meeting was held at 10 a.m. on 11 April 1968 in the Swatantra Party Room at Central Hall, Parliament House.
• Eleven members were recorded as present, including N. G. Ranga, M. R. Masani, C. C. Desai, J. M. Lobo Prabhu, and N. Dandeker.
• The committee approved procedures and dates for elections to party offices and the Parliamentary Party Executive Committee, with elections scheduled for 30 April 1968.
• The committee invited guidance from the Central Parliamentary Board concerning the Leader’s term of office and expressed a preference for a term lasting for the duration of the Lok Sabha.
• M. R. Masani, C. C. Desai, J. M. Lobo Prabhu, Y. G. Gowd, and J. Mohd. Imam were to continue serving on specified parliamentary financial committees for one further year.
• The committee authorised C. C. Desai to introduce a Constitutional Amendment Bill clarifying that the President’s power to nominate Rajya Sabha members should be exercised in the President’s sole personal discretion.
• Staff salary grades were revised, and the Leader and Secretary were authorised to reconsider the grade of the party’s Executive Secretary.
• Because N. Dandeker could not speak on grant demands concerning the Petroleum and Chemicals Ministry, Shri Tapuriah was requested to speak in his place.