Karnataka to test all its legislators for Covid-19 ahead of the assembly session?

BENGALURU: With as many as 41 legislators in Karnataka having already tested positive for Covid-19 till date, the Karnataka legislature appears to be leaving no stone unturned to safeguard the monsoon session with talks of setting in place a testing protocol for MLAs, MLCs, bureaucrats, support staff and all those who will be attending the 10 day proceedings.
According to government sources, speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri is toying with the idea of putting in place the protocol in assistance with the health department on similar lines as that of the parliament.
In the parliament, the centre has already put in place the protocol of testing all the members of Parliament 72 hours prior to the session.
“At present, the Speaker is exploring options of how other states are tackling their legislature session protocols including that which happened recently in Rajasthan,” said a government official.
It is said the legislature section of the government is awaiting the summons to be issued for the monsoon session, signed and authorised by the Governor Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala, before taking a concrete decision in this regard.
Effectively, if a testing protocol is put in place, all the 293 legislators (222 MLAs and 71 MLCs) including their personal assistants, bureaucrats from all the departments, media representatives and the support staff for the administration will be tested every three days.