Amid Mahua Moitra Row, Fresh Guidelines To MPs On Use Of Parliament Log-In

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The Lok Sabha Secretariat has said replies to MP's queries discussed in Parliament's Question Hour are "strictly confidential till the question... has actually been asked and answered in the House".

In an order dated November 10, it also said if a question is not asked or answered in the allotted time, "the reply should not be released till conclusion of Question Hour".

The clarification comes in the wake of allegations against Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, who is accused of taking a bribe from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions targeting the government.

Ms Moitra has admitted to sharing log-in details for her account on the Parliament's website - a highly confidential portal - with Mr Hiranandani. She has claimed there is no rule regulating the sharing of login credentials and that responses to questions become public information when released to MPs.

The ruling BJP has ripped into Ms Moitra over this row, accusing her of corruption and risking a potential national security issue by allowing the possible leak of confidential information.

READ | Ethics Panel Approves Mahua Moitra's Expulsion From Parliament In 6:4 Split Verdict

Ms Moitra is likely to be expelled from the Lok Sabha in next month's Winter Session following an (equally controversial) Ethics Panel meeting and report.

What Is The Lok Sabha Rule?

Answers to MPs' Starred Questions - those requiring an oral answer - are posted to their respective accounts by 9 am on Question Hour day. According to the Lok Sabha, "this initiative has been taken to (help) Members to frame supplementaries (follow-up questions)".

Responses to Unstarred Questions - those requiring a written answer - are also posted to the account of the MP who rasied the issue and, after Question Hour, on the Lok Sabha website.

READ | BJP MP's "Chori Seenazori" Barb At Mahua Moitra Reads Out Lok Sabha Rules

"It may be noted that since the replies are login- and password-protected on the Members' portal, they are exclusively for the use of Members only," the Lok Sabha order stressed.

"Members are, therefore, requested to maintain confidentiality of replies and not to share content with others till Question Hour is over," it said, underlining that responses to both oral (starred) and written (unstarred) questions "are to be treated as confidential until they are laid on the Table of the House after the Question Hour is over... for a particular date".

BJP MP's Swipe

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, whose complaint against Ms Moitra led to the Ethics Panel inquiry, posted the Lok Sabha's clarification on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday afternoon. "The accused MP has probably not been briefed properly by a PA like Hiranandani," he declared in a swipe at Mahua Moitra.

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