Speaker Om Birla: 'Citizens have unwavering faith in democracy'

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on Wednesday remarked that the Indian citizens have unwavering faith in the democracy, as is evident from the record voter turnout of over 67% in the 2019 general elections. Birla deemed the Lok Sabha as the 'temple of democracy' and noted that as many as 35 bills were passed in the first 37 sittings of Lok Sabha. Om Birla was attending an event for the inauguration of the 79th Conference of Presiding Officers of Legislative Bodies in Dehradun.

Speaking after the event Birla said, "The temple of democracy is a temple of public trust. The first 37 sittings of the Lok Sabha were conducted, and 35 bills were passed. Within 37 days, the proceedings of the House were not adjourned even for a single day. We did the work to increase the confidence of people."

"Assembly should not be a political arena, it should be a place where all the discussion should be done softly," he remarked.

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About the conference 

Apart from Birla, the conference witnessed the participation of the Presiding Officers of all the State Legislatures. During the two-day deliberations, the Presiding Officers will discuss the agenda item 'Tenth Schedule to the Constitution and the Role of the Speaker'. In the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, provisions have been made about the disqualification of Members of Parliament or Members of State Legislatures on the basis of change of party.

According to the schedule, this question is decided by the Chairman or Speaker of each House whether or not a member of the House is disqualified and the decision is final. Another important topic of discussion is 'Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy and capacity building through inhouse devices including Zero Hour'. The members of the Legislatures have the power to make laws and ensure the accountability of the Executive.

These powers are exercised under established parliamentary procedures and rules. But during the Zero Hour, members can raise such matters which they consider to be matters of urgent public importance and which they want to avoid due to delay in raising them under normal procedure rules.

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(with ANI inputs)