Maha Balakrishnan said countries like the UK and Australia have given up time for urgent motions and bills from across the aisle, even if such motions were against the governing party.
She said the move ought to be emulated, urging Parliament to “ring-fence” or fix an allocated time for motions and bills by backbenchers and opposition MPs to be heard. She said that based on available data, the number of Parliament sittings have plunged to 56 between 2013 and 2017, compared to 2000-2010 with 77 sittings. In 2018, the number hit 70 and was 68 the following year. These numbers were less than half of those in the UK and Canada, where a similar parliamentary system is used.