CHENNAI: The long-standing demand to live telecast the State Assembly proceedings will become a reality from the first session of the House, which starts from January 5 at Fort St George. To start with, the Assembly Secretariat is planning to live telecast the question hour daily, as well as the last day of the session.
Live telecast of the Assembly proceedings, conducting Assembly sessions for 100 days a year, and reviving the Legislative Council are the three key electoral promises of the DMK as far as the State legislature is concerned.
Since September 2020, the session of the Assembly took place at Kalaivanar Arangam due to Covid threat. During the recent Budget session, Chief Minister MK Stalin said a live telecast of Assembly proceedings would take place when the House shifts to Fort St George.
“We are making technical arrangements at the Assembly hall to provide live input to television channels. We are trying to telecast all proceedings,” official sources told TNIE. The Tamil Nadu Films Division personnel recently visited the Parliament House, and the Assembly halls of Delhi, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, and Odisha to get first-hand experience.
Political leaders have been contending that live telecast of the proceedings would bring a paradigm shift in the quality of debates in the House since such a move would impose a big responsibility on the members regarding what they speak.
Asked about the DMK’s promise to conduct the Assembly session for 100 days per year, Assembly Speaker M Appavu told TNIE: “Though it is an electoral promise of the DMK, the duration of every session of the State Assembly is decided by the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the House, which is represented by the opposition parties as well. So, I can’t say anything unilaterally. It should be decided by the BAC.”