18th Uttar Pradesh legislative assembly: Monsoon session may see 39 first-time speakers

While a few members were not able to speak for lack of initiative, many didn’t get a chance due to limitation of time in wake of low number of sittings of the House, said those aware of the development.

At least 39 BJP, SP and Apna Dal MLAs, who had not been able to deliver their speech in UP’s 18th legislative assembly, are likely to get a chance to do so during the Monsoon session scheduled from August 7, as per an initiative by Speaker Satish Mahana.

The legislative assembly has had four sessions after being constituted following 2022 assembly elections. (FOR REPRESENTATION)

While a few members were not able to speak for lack of initiative, many didn’t get a chance due to limitation of time in wake of low number of sittings of the House, said those aware of the development. The Speaker had earlier reserved a day to enable the women members to speak in the House.

The legislative assembly has had four sessions after being constituted following 2022 assembly elections. These include three sessions of the House convened in 2022. In 2023, the legislative assembly had the budget session convened to pass the annual budget while its Monsoon session is scheduled to begin on August 7.

Members who had not been able to speak in the House so far included 23 MLAs of the BJP, 15 of the SP and one of Apna Dal.

“As many as 39 members of the 18th state assembly have not been able to speak in the House. These include new members who have not been able to deliver their maiden speech. Speaker Satish Mahana proposes to give them a chance during the Monsoon session,” said a senior officer.

Will the assembly reserve a day for such members or decide to give them priority to express their view in the House? “The business advisory committee of the House, scheduled to meet on August 6, will take a call on the issue,” said Mahana while speaking to HT on phone.

Principal secretary (state legislative assembly) Pradeep Dubey said the rules committee of the legislative assembly had approved the new rule book to be placed before the House for approval during the session.

Meanwhile, chief minister Yogi Adityanath was set to inaugurate on August 6, the digital display boards and kiosks set up in the gallery close to the main entry gate on the first floor of Vidhan Bhawan. These will display the state government’s achievements and the profile of members of the 18th house.

In February, the CM had inaugurated the digital gallery of the House depicting its history from the days of it being set up as the Legislative Council of North Western Provinces and Oudh on January 5, 1887. The digital gallery, also giving visitors a virtual helicopter ride to all the important places linked to the freedom struggle, will now be thrown open to the public.