Source: HT
Subject: Polity
Context: The Lok Sabha will introduce a digital attendance system from the Budget Session 2026 to ensure the physical presence of MPs inside the House.
About Lok Sabha to launch digital attendance system:
What it is?
- A seat-based biometric attendance mechanism where Members of Parliament mark attendance electronically from their designated seats inside the House, replacing the earlier lobby register system.
Announced by: Om Birla, Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Aim:
- Ensure actual presence of MPs during sittings.
- Improve transparency, discipline, and productivity of Parliament.
- Link attendance with daily allowance strictly to House presence.
How it works?
- Every designated seat in the Lok Sabha chamber is fitted with a digital console, ensuring attendance can be marked only from within the House and not elsewhere in the Parliament complex.
- MPs authenticate their presence using biometric thumb verification, eliminating proxy marking and ensuring that attendance reflects the actual physical presence of the member.
- Once the House is adjourned—whether due to protests or completion of business—the system is locked, preventing members from retroactively marking attendance.
- If an MP fails to record attendance during a sitting, it results in the forfeiture of daily allowance and related entitlements, creating a direct financial accountability mechanism.
Key features:
- The earlier practice of signing a register outside the chamber is abolished, ensuring MPs remain present during proceedings, not just for formality.
- Biometric verification enhances accuracy, tamper-resistance, and transparency, aligning parliamentary functioning with modern e-governance standards.
- The strict time-bound system discourages strategic delays and reinforces the principle that attendance equals participation, not mere appearance.
- MPs can no longer mark attendance and leave immediately, promoting serious legislative engagement and debate continuity.
- The system complements initiatives like real-time multilingual translation, paperless proceedings, and AI-assisted workflows, advancing a more efficient and citizen-centric Parliament.
