In their addresses at the conferences of Secretaries of Legislative bodies prior to the meeting of the presiding officers tomorrow, S Gopalan and R C Tripathi also drew attention to various other challenges facing the presiding officers at the present time.

Gopalan said one of the ways to improve the quality of participation of members was to equip them with knowledge, and the secretariats must guide members on how to access the vast knowledge available to them for organising their presentations and saving the time of the Houses.

The most prominent among these, Gopalan said, was the interpretation of the Anti-Defection Law since this had come up for scrutiny in various forms in different legislatures and also in the courts of law. Healso drew attention to the various suggestions made by legislatures as well as the Election Commission with regard to electoral reforms. In this respect, the role of the commission itself would come under examination, he said.

Gopalan pointed out that about 48 per cent of the 12th Lok Sabha comprised newcomers, who had to be familiarised with the rules of procedure of the house. The people had voted a hung House, and the ruling coalition headed by the Bharatiya Janata Party had the support of the 18 of the 41 parties in the House.

He pointed out that the Committee of MPs on ethics had suggested that the Committee of Privileges should be re-named as the Committee of Privileges and Ethics. This report under the consideration of Parliament.

Tripathi referred to the various changes that had taken place since the last meeting of the presiding officers in Shimla and said one of these was the setting up of a Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Committee under the chairman of the deputy chairperson for proper monitoringof the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme.

He said the conference would provide an opportunity to examine the legal, procedural and constitutional aspects of all issues which had to be faced in all legislatures.