MPs

Against the backdrop of Parliament witnessing poor productivity due to disruptions, Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar on Sunday called for accountability of lawmakers and said people would force them to think why they were sent to Parliament. He also said that for any democracy to succeed, expression and dialogue must go hand in hand with great responsibility on both sides. Dhankhar is the Rajya Sabha's ex-officio chairman. Calling for accountability among parliamentarians, he said, "... Make no mistake, I am referring to parliamentarians. People have learned to take disorder as order. There is no sense of revulsion." Hopefully, people will write and their thoughts will move, the vice-president said, according to an official statement. "People will force you to think, why did you go there (Parliament)?" he said. Addressing awardees of the Chaudhary Charan Singh Awards - 2024, the vice-president said agriculture was the spine of rural development. "Unless agriculture develops, the

As many as 251 (46 per cent) of the 543 newly elected Lok Sabha members have criminal cases registered against them and 27 of them have been convicted, according to an analysis by poll rights body Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR). This is the highest number of candidates facing criminal charges to be elected to the Lower House. A total of 233 MPs (43 per cent) had declared criminal cases against themselves, 185 (34 per cent) in 2014, 162 (30 per cent) in 2009 and 125 (23 per cent) in 2004. According to the analysis, there has been a 55 per cent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009. Of the 251 winning candidates this year, 170 (31 per cent) face serious criminal cases, including rape, murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and crimes against women. This is also an increase from 159 (29 per cent) MPs in 2019, 112 (21 per cent) MPs in 2014, and 76 (14 per cent) MPs in 2009, the analysis showed. There has been a 124 per cent increase in the num

Special courts for trial of criminal cases related to Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly decided more than 2,000 cases in 2023, the Supreme Court has been informed. In an affidavit filed by senior advocate Vijay Hansaria, who has been appointed amicus curiae in a PIL seeking expeditious disposal of criminal cases against MPs/MLAs, said that more directions are needed for speedy adjudication of pending trials and their investigation under strict monitoring by the respective high courts, as there are around 501 candidates with criminal cases who are contesting the Lok Sabha elections in the first two phases. Referring to a report of NGO 'Association of Democratic Reforms for the Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase I and Phase II,' Hansaria, assisted by advocate Sneha Kalita, said that out of 2,810 candidates (Phase I - 1618 candidates and Phase II - 1192 candidates), 501 (18 per cent) candidates have criminal cases against them, out of which, 327 (12 per cent) are ...

Figure ten times Election Commission's budget for 2023-24

Apple's cyber security executives from the US are expected to meet officials of CERT-In this month regarding the show cause notice issued to the company in the wake of several opposition MPs receiving a warning notification on their iPhones. Last month, several opposition leaders claimed they have received an alert from Apple warning them of "state-sponsored attackers trying to remotely compromise" their iPhones and alleged hacking by the government. CERT-In, which comes under Meity, had issued a show cause notice to Apple in this regard. On Friday, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that Apple has to reply to the notice which needs to be done by their global cyber security team. "They have to come here and answer those questions. Basic issue is ongoing," the minister told reporters. He said that the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team or CERT-In has met local representatives of Apple but the issue is beyond their ...

A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will reconsider the apex court's 1998 verdict granting MPs and MLAs immunity from prosecution for taking bribe to make a speech or vote in Parliament and state legislatures. A notice, uploaded on the apex court website, said the bench will hear the matter on October 4. "Constitution Bench comprising the Chief Justice of India, Justice A S Bopanna, Justice M M Sundresh, Justice Pamidighantam Sri Narasimha, Justice J B Pardiwala, Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Manoj Misra is constituted to hear criminal appeal no. 451/2019 titled Sita Soren vs Union of India on October 4 (Wednesday)," the notice said. Nearly 25 years after the JMM bribery scandal rocked the country, the apex court had on September 20 agreed to reconsider its 1998 judgment, saying it was an important issue having a significant bearing on "morality of polity". A five-judge bench of the apex court had decided to refer the issue to a ..

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar along with several ministers met Union Minister Prahlad Joshi and discussed the Cauvery issue last night in Delhi

The agency has analysed financial and educational details of 225 of 233 Rajya Sabha MPs

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and some other MPs suspended from Parliament will not be able to attend the meetings of parliamentary committees of which they are a member or chairperson till their suspension is revoked. Chowdhury, who heads the all-important Public Accounts Committee, will not be able to take part in its meeting. Similarly, he will not be allowed in the meetings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs of which he is a member till his suspension continues. He is also a member of the business advisory committee of the Lok Sabha, the General Purposes Committee, the Parliamentary Budget Committee and the Consultative Committee on Defence. "I will not be able to attend the meetings of any of the parliamentary panels as I stand suspended from the Lok Sabha," Chowdhury told PTI. He, however, said that he is actively considering moving court against his suspension and talks are underway with legal experts in this regard. Chowdhury was

"Now in this new building, everyone shall work as per the constitution and resolve the issues of common people, everyone shall take part in it," he said

The MPs who gave the Notice in Rajya Sabha include Pramod Tiwari, Ranjeet Ranjan, while Manickam Tagore gave an adjournment motion notice in Lok Sabha

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has said that only 2.98 per cent of its overall ECIRs or complaints have been filed against serving or former MPs and MLAs even as its conviction rate under the anti-money laundering law is at a high of 96 per cent. The federal probe agency has published an updated data of its action under the three laws it implements-- the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) and the Fugitive Economic Offenders Act (FEOA)-- till January 31, 2023. The ED was entrusted with enforcing the stringent provisions of the PMLA, enacted in 2002, from July 1, 2005. The law empowers the agency to summon, arrest, attach the assets of the accused at the investigation stage and prosecute the offenders before a court of law. The data said the ED filed a total of 176 Enforcement Case Information Reports (ECIRs), equivalent to a police FIR, against existing and ex MPs, MLAs and MLCs which comes to 2.98 percentage of the total 5,906 suc

Urges MPs to make winter session productive, provide more opportunities to young parliamentarians

To ensure attendance of its MPs in parliamentary committee meetings, the BJP is doing a surprise check to see whether its MPs are present in the meetings or not, sources said on Friday. As the committees take up contentious issues, the BJP feels it is important to ensure proper attendance of the party MPs to counter opposition members in these panels, they said. The Parliamentary Affairs Minister's office in tandem with BJP's parliamentary party office are conducting these surprise checks on MPs' attendance in the committee meetings, they said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in the past emphasised on the attendance of party MPs in BJP parliamentary party meetings.

Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu along with Union ministers Pralhad Joshi and Piyush Goyal flagged off Tiranga Bike Rally for MPs from Red Fort on Tuesday

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The development comes after some issues of negligence regarding the protocol came to the notice of the ministry.

The analysis of attendance of Rajya Sabha MPs reveals that around 30 per cent members had full presence in a session and only less than two per cent had zero attendance

Joshi's name was mentioned in despatches as a possible B S Yediyurappa successor when the BJP replaced the stalwart