New Delhi, Oct 30 (UNI) Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will lead an Indian Parliamentary Delegation at the 206th Session of the Governing Council of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will be held virtually from November 1 to 4, the Lok Sabha Secretariat said on Friday.
This is an Extraordinary Virtual Session, which is being organised in place of a full-fledged in-person Statutory Assembly of IPU due to the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic.
The agenda of the Virtual Session inter-alia includes the election of the new President of IPU through remote electronic secret ballot since the outgoing President of IPU Gabriela Cuevas Barron (MP, Mexico) had completed her term on October 19 2020. The term of the new President of IPU will be from 2020-23.
An Indian Parliamentary Delegation led by Mr Om Birla and consisting of Poonamben Hematbhai Maadam, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha and Swapan Dasgupta, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha will participate in the above mentioned Virtual Session and will cast their votes.
Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Snehlata Shrivastava and Secretary General, Rajya Sabha Desh Deepak Verma will also attend the Virtual Session. Dr. Ajay Kumar, Joint Secretary, Lok Sabha Secretariat is the Secretary to the Delegation.
There are four candidates in the fray for the election of IPU President viz. Mr. Duarte Pacheco from Portugal; Mr. Muhammad Sanjrani from Pakistan; Mr. Akmal Saidov from Uzbekistan; and Ms. Salma Ataullahjan from Canada.
Prior to the scheduled Virtual Session of the Governing Council, a Virtual Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Geopolitical Group (APG) of IPU, consisting of 36 nations, was organized on October 30 by the President of Senate of Philippines, the current Chair of APG. Mr Swapan Dasgupta, Member of Parliament and Secretary General, Lok Sabha, Snehlata Shrivastava attended the meeting.
The Governing Council is the main policy-making body of the IPU which is inter-alia mandated to elect the new President of IPU. Each member Parliament of IPU is represented by three parliamentarians in the Governing Council and accordingly has three votes, provided the Delegation has both men and women.
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