Political parties should have code of conduct for lawmakers, says Lok Sabha Speaker Birla

Patna: Amid disruptions in Parliament and state legislatures, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday urged political parties to devise a code of conduct for their lawmakers to uphold the dignity of their respective Houses.

The two-day 85th All India Presiding Officers’ Conference also adopted a five-point resolution that included a collective resolve to take steps to ensure “disruption-free” debate and discussion in their respective legislatures.

The presiding officers agreed to deploy technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to bring legislative bodies closer to the people by making available debates in the local and two additional languages, Birla said.

The presiding officers voiced concern over the decline in the number of sittings of state legislatures and agreed to implement the resolutions of previous meetings.

“In an earlier meeting of the presiding officers, we had resolved that the state legislatures would hold at least 60 sittings in a calendar year. We have agreed to make efforts to implement the resolution,” Birla told news agency in an interview. Making a strong pitch for an internal code of conduct by political parties for their elected representatives, Birla said such an approach could lead to fewer disruptions in legislative bodies.

The Lok Sabha speaker said some parties had an unwritten code of conduct for Parliament and state legislatures and their members refrained from entering the well of the House and disrupting proceedings.

Birla also urged the media not to glorify lawmakers for disrupting House proceedings and write more frequently against unruly conduct during sessions of Parliament and state legislatures.

“Don’t make heroes out of those who disrupt proceedings,” the Lok Sabha

speaker said.