In preparation for the winter session of Parliament, the Lok Sabha has adjusted access protocols for the Digital Sansad portal, specifically targeting personal assistants and secretaries of parliamentarians. This move follows the cash-for-query accusations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, who allegedly shared her login credentials with business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani, enabling him to directly post questions to the portal. The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha on November 9, citing a significant breach of parliamentary rules.
Under the revised protocol, personal assistants (PAs) are now limited to saving notices as drafts, with lawmakers mandated to submit them from their own accounts. The new notification on the ‘E-Notice’ tab in Digital Sansad emphasizes that PAs/PSs can only submit draft notices, while final notices must be submitted by the respective members. Previously, PAs of Members of Parliament (MPs) could access the ‘E-Notice’ tab to file various documents related to the legislative branch, including parliamentary questions, requests for discussions, draft bills, and amendments. The change came to light when a personal secretary attempted to submit questions on November 13, discovering the modification without any official bulletin. The National Informatics Centre informed them that a bulletin regarding the restriction would be issued on November 15.
Despite the controversy surrounding the Moitra case, the Digital Sansad platform, inaugurated on September 1 to enhance parliamentary accessibility, initially permitted MPs to authorize assistants or secretaries for account access. However, due to the Moitra incident, MPs can no longer authorize secretaries to access their accounts, leading to concerns about managing the workload effectively.
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