Mahua effect: Access is lost for PAs and MPs’ passwords are now private

The Lok Sabha is said to have blocked MPs’ aides’ access to the Digital Sansad platform and applications amid a huge dispute centred upon property mogul Niranjan Hiranandani’s son Darshan “uploading question for Mahua Moitra to raise in Parliament.” This prevents anybody other than parliamentarians from submitting travel bills, accessing the official email accounts of MPs, or submitting requests for questioning in the House.

Now since politicians are frequently reliant on their secretaries and aides, there may be a problem because not all of them possess the same credentials or skill sets.

About 75% of MPs in the Lok Sabha have at least a graduate degree, according to a 2019 analysis by PRS Legislative Research, while 10% are simply matriculated.

According to a comparable analysis released this year by National Election Watch (NEW) and the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), 141 of the 184 MPs were professional graduates. There was just one illiterate MP.

The most recent change may be a difficult task because Lok Sabha members are now required to manage their own digital parliamentary activities.

“At best, the members can sit beside their assistants or secretaries, sharing the passwords and OTPs to get their work done,” the source of a Times of India story said in response to this. The majority of MPs still take part in this “unofficial” way.

According to the same TOI report, the LS secretariat is alleged to have prevented MPs’ personal assistants and secretaries from using the Digital Sansad portal and apps, which enable members to perform daily tasks like sending in questions for the House, accessing emails, and submitting TA bills.

The MP is the only one with access today. The report further said that no notification on the access restrictions has yet been sent out by the secretariat.

According to the report, members of Digital Sansad, which went into effect on September 1, might grant access to their accounts to assistants or secretaries by providing the email addresses and phone numbers of their permitted staff to the Lok Sabha secretariat.

Is Mahua Moitra’s MP Login Still Active?

Following some startling disclosures by Mahua Moitra, a member of the Trinamool Congress, reforms were made. In addition to acknowledging that she provided Darshan Hiranandani with her Parliament login credentials, the legislator disclosed that her sister’s youngster had signed in from Cambridge and typed her questions.

According to her, the login information and passwords are kept by their staff, and no MP answers the questions on their own. “But then an OTP comes and it comes to my phone only. It does not go to Darshan’s phone. Only when I provide the OTP, the questions are submitted,” Moitra had stated.

“The NIC login has no rules as to who can have the login or not. Every single MP’s questions are given to their large teams. You are saying I have given it to a foreign entity. Darshan Hiranandani is a friend, and an Indian citizen. His passport has been made public.”

“I myself have logged in from Switzerland. My sister’s child has also logged in from Cambridge and typed in my questions. If NIC’s question-and-answer portal is so very protected, then why don’t you block IP addresses from entering it? Darshan Hiranandani does not need me to ask questions. Every question is RTI-able. Where is the quid, where is the quo?” Moitra added.

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