Breaking away from the past practice of banning MPs from wearing badges, members of the Rajya Sabha will now be able to wear the national flag in the form of a lapel pin in the House from the upcoming
Breaking away from the past practice of banning MPs from wearing badges, members of the Rajya Sabha will now be able to wear the national flag in the form of a lapel pin in the House from the upcoming Monsoon Session in July.
A statement by the Rajya Sabha said that members of the House have now been permitted to wear such a lapel pin as recommended by the general purposes committee of Rajya Sabha.
The committee had made this recommendation at its meeting held on May 3, which has also been favoured by Chairman Hamid Ansari. The panel had made the recommendation after deliberations over the suggestion of Congress member Vijay Jawaharlal Darda of allowing MPs to wear national flag badge in the House.
The convention and a ruling from the Chair in 1985 disallows Upper House members from wearing any badge, including the national flag as a lapel pin, in the House.
In 2010, the rules committee of the Lok Sabha had made an exception and allowed members to wear the tricolour as a lapel pin in order to honour the national flag.
The committee of the Lok Sabha, chaired by then Speaker Meira Kumar, had amended rule 349 under which the MPs shall not wear badges of any kind in the House except the national flag in the lapel pin, in a break from the practice of banning MPs from wearing badges altogether. Citing the change of rules in Lok Sabha, Mr Darda had made a strong pitch for allowing members in Rajya Sabha to follow suit.
