Historical: Zero hour begins in Himachal Pradesh Assembly, information will have to be given one and a half hour before the session begins

First come first serve based ‘Zero Hour’ has started on the third day of the winter session of Himachal Pradesh Assembly. This is the first time that the peak of Zero Hour has been kept in the state assembly. After the Question Hour which ran from 11 am to 12 noon, the Zero Hour proceedings began in the House in which only seven MLAs out of 68 elected members were given the opportunity to speak. These included the newly elected MLA of Congress Party from Lahaul-Spiti Assembly Constituency Anuradha Rana, BJP MLA from Bharmour Assembly Constituency of Chamba district Dr. Janak Raj, Congress MLA and Deputy Chief Whip Kewal Singh Pathania from Shahpur Assembly Constituency of Kangra district, BJP MLA Sukh Ram Chaudhary from Paonta Sahib Assembly Constituency of Sirmaur district, Congress MLA Sanjay Rattan from Jawalamukhi Assembly Constituency of Kangra district, BJP MLA Trilok Jamwal from Bilaspur Assembly Constituency and Congress MLA Hardeep Singh Bawa from Nalagarh Assembly Constituency of Solan district, who made the Speaker aware of the problems of their respective areas.

Know what the rules of Zero Hour say

Giving information about the rules of Zero Hour, Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania said that just like the Lok Sabha, Zero Hour has started for the first time in the state assembly today, due to which now after the Question Hour, for half an hour, the members will get a chance to promptly put forward the major problems of their respective assembly constituencies under the first come first serve policy. Pathania said that to participate in the Zero Hour process, the assembly members will have to update them one and a half hour before the start of the session, after which the Assembly Speaker will provide an opportunity to the first ten members to put forth their views in the half hour of Zero Hour. During Zero Hour, if the minister wants to answer the related problem in the House, then he can do so, otherwise he will have to submit the answers to the questions of the concerned department of Zero Hour to the Assembly Speaker through information later.

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Ten members will get a chance

There are a total of 68 MLAs in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly, out of which 40 are from the Congress Party and 28 are BJP MLAs. The Speaker of the Assembly clearly said that only major issues will be raised during Zero Hour and there should be no politics of debate at all during Zero Hour. If any member is found wasting the time of Zero Hour by raising useless issues, then the Speaker of the Assembly can also take action against that member according to his jurisdiction.

Why was Zero Hour started in the State Assembly

Due to frequent politics in the Question Hour and agenda in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly, members often do not get a chance to raise the major problems of their assembly constituencies before all the members. Due to this, Zero Hour was started in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha of India in 1962, but Zero Hour in the State Assembly is being started in the winter session at the end of the year 2024, which shows that the State Assembly was running completely in a traditional manner, but with changing times, not only Zero Hour but also the National e-Vidhan Portal has shifted to NeVA, due to which now the proceedings, functioning and activities of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly can be seen from anywhere.

Sourabh Jaiswal

Journalism with fairness, honesty, confidence and inquisitiveness. Passion started with Cricbuzz in 2004. HT Media carved it. Polished in Hindustan and Diary Times gave it shine. Journey continues with Diarytimes.com. Interested in writing, travelling and exploring new things. Funda of life: Everyone has two paths, run or part. I choose to participate instead of running away.