LUCKNOW: The four-day-long winter session of Uttar Pradesh legislature, beginning on Tuesday, will be in for a new set of rules coming into effect that prohibit members from carrying mobile phones, banners and posters inside the House.
On the other hand, in a reflection of their current political heft in the politically most crucial state of the country, the Congress and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will be seen in smaller office accommodations reassigned to them on the premises of Vidhan Bhawan.
According to the Vidhan Sabha secretariat, in the winter session which will conclude on December 1, the MLAs and MLCs will no longer be allowed to bring along mobile phones. Additionally, carrying flags and banners into the House during the session will also be prohibited.
Assembly Speaker Satish Mahana had made an announcement in this connection, at least, 10 days in advance of the commencement of the winter session.
He had said that the new rule that barred members from carrying a mobile phone inside the House
would be implemented in the assembly during the winter session.
The ban is part of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the UP Legislative Assembly-2023 that the state assembly adopted during the Monsoon session (in August 2023).
However, the MLAs cutting across party lines demanded the Speaker to relax the rule barring them from carrying mobile phones inside the House.
Samajwadi Party chief whip Manoj Kumar Pandey urged the Speaker to relax the rule or give a private secretary to the lawmakers and allow the latter to enter the House to convey important messages to them when the House is in session.
Similarly, Congress Legislature Party leader Aradhana Mishra ‘Mona’ demanded the speaker to relax the rule while BSP MLA Uma Shankar Singh said that the speaker might ask the members to keep mobiles switched off or in silent mode inside the House. “If any mobile rings in the House, the same can be confiscated immediately,” he suggested.
Even the ruling party MLAs like Rajeshwar Singh and Yogesh Shukla agreed with their opposition counterparts on the issue saying that the members of the house were responsible citizens and they should be trusted that they would not break the discipline of the house.
As per the sources, the UP assembly may be the first House to have a new rule book. It has been following the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the UP Legislative Assembly-1958 so far.
The new rules have been introduced to enforce discipline in the House. An SP MLA was found telecasting House proceedings on Facebook Live, inviting the ire of speaker Satish Mahana who had asked him to leave the House immediately.
A senior official said that a member also used one of the computer tablets, which is fixed on the seats of all the lawmakers, to play cards or video games and such activities may create a bad impression about the whole House.
Besides this, the Uttar Pradesh assembly will now provide badges displaying the names of all the MLAs. On November 29, the presentation of demands for supplementary grants for the financial year 2023-24 and other legislative tasks will be taken up in the second half.
Meanwhile, both the Congress and the BSP have been reassigned to smaller office accommodations on Vidhan Bhawan premises. Earlier, both parties were allotted larger offices. Currently, the Congress has only two members in the state assembly and the BSP merely one. However, an official concerned attributes it to the ongoing renovation work on Vidhan Bhawan premises.
Rule 157 (2) of the UP Legislative Assembly clearly mentions that political parties with a minimum of 25 members or above will be allotted offices by the legislative assembly secretariat. The party offices will then be provided with staff and telephone connections.
The speaker of the legislative assembly takes the decision on the allotment of the offices to various political parties, the official further said. The ruling BJP has 254 members and SP 109 in the 18th legislative assembly and they have been allotted larger offices in view of the tally in the assembly.
The Apna Dal (S) has 13 MLAs, Rashtriya Lok Dal with 9 MLAs, Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party with six MLAs, the Nirbal Indian Shoshit Hamara Aam Dal (NISHAD) with six MLAs and Jansatta Dal Loktantrik with two MLAs have been allotted offices in the Vidhan Bhavan according to their numbers in the assembly, said an official of assembly secretariat.