The DMK’s electoral promise to telecast live the proceedings of the Legislative Assembly has put the focus back on the issue.
Presently, while arrangements are in place to record the proceedings of the House, only select portions are released to media houses, leading to complaints of censorship.
Former Congress legislator S. Peter Alphonse, who first raised the demand for live telecast of House proceedings in the mid-1990s, argued that such a move would improve the performance of legislators. “Democracy is a system by discussion and such discussions must be transparent,” he said.
“Live telecasts will show whether a legislator is coming to the House, is attentive, is raising questions and is moving various call attention motions. It is definitely a deterrent for indisciplined MLAs and also an encouragement to the performers,” Mr. Alphonse said.
But what if an MLA uses unparliamentary remarks in the House and it gets telecast? “This can also happen on a public platform. Let the people understand that these are the characters who have been elected to the House and decide for themselves. They may speak that way on one occasion, but when questioned about it outside, they may not do it again. Everybody should be made accountable for what he/she speaks and does,” said the Congress leader.
D. Jagadheeswaran, an activist who moved the Madras High Court, seeking the live telecast of Assembly proceedings, argued that citizens had a right to know what their elected representatives did in the House. He pointed out that proceedings of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were telecast through dedicated TV channels.
Proceedings of the Assembly in Andhra Pradesh are webcast live and Karnataka, too, allows uninterrupted feed to all private channels. Kerala has operationalised a live webcast from the Chief Minister’s office, he said. “Several other States, including Gujarat and Bihar, are taking steps to operationalise the live telecast of all Assembly sessions,” he added.
In 1996, the P.A. Sangma Committee on telecasting of proceedings of legislatures recommended that infrastructure be set up to facilitate the live telecast of State Assembly proceedings. At several conferences of presiding officers of legislatures, it has been undertaken to move towards setting up of such live telecast.
During the hearing of Mr. Jagadheeswaran’s petition, the State submitted that telecasting proceedings was the privilege of the Speaker and it would need ₹60 crore for the required facilities.
“Even today, the Governor’s address and the Budget session are telecast live in Doordarshan channel. Citing infrastructure as hindrance is an alibi. We met DMK leader M.K. Stalin and leaders from the CPI, CPI(M) and other parties, urging them to raise the issue in the Assembly. It is good to see this figure in the DMK manifesto,” he said.
A former Assembly Secretary confirmed that a lack of funds for telecasting proceedings live was the primary reason behind not implementing it. “Houses of the Parliament have live telecast because they have sufficient budget, but that is not the case with us. Moreover, both the parties [AIADMK and DMK] have not been keen on telecasting the proceedings live.”
