Lok Sabha Speaker asks members to observe maximum decorum

New Delhi: With large disruptions in the last Monsoon Session apparently weighing on her mind, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on Wednesday underlined the need for members to observe maximum decorum in the House.

"Decorum should be observed to the maximum and there should be maximum debate," Mahajan said after an all party meeting here this evening on the eve of the month-long Winter Session.

Few days back, she had written a letter to all members, saying she expected "acceptable decorum" from them in the House as many times decency is thrown to the winds following difference of opinion over issues.

"In every aspect of life, everybody expects decent and moral behaviour from each other. As Speaker, can I expect that in Lok Sabha, which we call the temple of democracy? We all will show behaviour as per the acceptable decorum so that the prestige and purity is upheld," she had said in the letter.

Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of Congress in the Lok Sabha, Shiv Sena's Anand Adsul, E Ahmed of the Muslim League, Sudip Bandopadhyay of the TMC were among others present for the meeting at which Prime Minister Narendra Modi also made a brief appearance.

Mahajan also launched the refurbished version of the existing Lok Sabha website with a number of new features. She said her endeavour will be to make Parliament a paperless organisation.

The last Monsoon session of Parliament was a complete washout as opposition and government locked horns after demands were made for removal of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan over various controversies.

Amidst the bedlam, the Speaker had suspended 25 of the 44 members of Congress for five days for disrupting the House.