Speaker Girish Gautam said it is intended the move becomes a permanent fixture from next session.
Bhopal:
In a novel initiative in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly to “raise the confidence” of first time MLAs, all starred questions on which discussion will take place during the Question Hour on March 15 would be from them, Speaker Girish Gautam said on Friday.
Mr Gautam said the move would also allow these new legislators to learn about the proceedings of the House.
“Senior MLAs won’t be allowed to ask counter-questions during this period. It will raise the self-confidence of the new MLAs and, in the process, they will also learn about House proceedings,” he said.
He said, during Question Hour, around 25 queries are listed for discussion, of which some 10 are asked in the House, and new legislators often don’t get the opportunity to take part as senior MLAs, some with good oratory skills, tend to take a lot of time, Mr Gautam said.
Some 150 to 200 questions are received everyday from MLAs, and a lottery system is deployed to choose 25 that would be discussed in the House during Question Hour, and it was seen that new legislators were not getting enough chances, the speaker explained.
“Therefore, we decided that one day will be dedicated to the first-time MLAs and all 25 questions will be taken up from them for discussion in the House. Queries of senior MLAs will be kept aside on this day and the lottery system will choose 25 from the list submitted by first-timers,” he said.
He said it is intended the move becomes a permanent fixture from the next session.
Replying to a query on possible live telecast of the MP Assembly proceedings, Mr Gautam said work on this front was underway.