Ahead of Parliament Winter Session on Monday, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla has appealed to all political parties for cooperation to ensure the smooth functioning of the House. In a post on X, the Speaker expressed his hope in members of the Lower House to participate in the proceedings with discipline and decorum.
“Winter Session of Lok Sabha is starting from today. It is hoped that with the active cooperation of all parties, there will be deep reflection in the House on issues related to national interest and public welfare. Honourable members will participate in the proceedings with discipline and decorum,” Speaker Birla said in a Hindi post on X. “I hope that with collective efforts, we will enhance the dignity of the House,” he said.
The Winter Session of the Parliament begins today, a day after results for Assembly elections in four states were declared, with the BJP winning three (Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) and Congress ousting the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana. The Ethics Committee, which probed the ‘cash-for-query’ allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra is scheduled to lay its report in Lok Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session of Parliament today.
This means the opening day itself could witness stormy scenes and a clash between the Treasury and opposition benches. The listed agenda of Lok Sabha for December 4 mentions that Ethics Committee chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar and member of the Committee Aparjita Sarangi will be laying “on the Table the First Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics”.
Lok Sabha Ethics Committee had last month submitted its draft report connection with the ‘cash-for-query’ case to Speaker Om Birla. Sources said the committee had recommended the expulsion of Moitra. The government held an all-party meeting on Saturday for the smooth functioning of the session, which will have 15 sittings between December 4 and December 22.
The government has 21 Bills on its agenda for the session, including the bills to replace the IPC, the Indian Evidence Act and the CrPC.
