Parliament security breach: Who is BJP MP Pratap Simha, who recommended visitor passes for the accused; how they are issued

Who is Pratap Simha, and what is the process of issuing visitor passes for Parliament? Is the MP supposed to know the applicant personally, or bear any sort of responsibility for his conduct? We explain.

How are visitor passes to Parliament issued?

Admission of visitors (strangers in Parliament parlance) are governed by Rule 386 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha. The Rule, which deals with “admission, withdrawal and removal of strangers”, states that “the admission of strangers during the sittings of the House to those portions of the House which are not reserved for the exclusive use of members shall be regulated in accordance with orders made by the Speaker.”

According to the “Practice and Procedure of Parliament” by M N Kaul and S L Shakdher, “a member can apply for issue of Visitors’ Cards only for those who are very well known to them personally.”

And while applying for visitors’ cards, members have to give a certificate saying “The above named visitor is my relative/personal friend/known to me personally and I take full responsibility for him/her.”

In view of the security reasons, visitors have to carry a Photo Identity Card.

The rules say “The names of visitors are required to be given in full and not with initials. The father’s/husband’s name of a visitor should also invariably be given in full.”

There are similar rules for Rajya Sabha.

The rules say “Under the regulations, a member can apply for a visitor’s card for a person who is known to him personally or in select cases for those who have been introduced to the member by a person who is personally known to him. It is in the latter class of cases that members are to exercise utmost care.”

Significantly, it says “Members are advised to bear in mind that they are responsible for any untoward incident or undesirable thing happening in the galleries as a result of anything done by holders of cards issued at the request of such members.”

In this case, Manoranjan D’s father told The Indian Express that since Pratap Simha is their local MP, they share a good relationship with him.

Simha’s office has defended him, reported PTI, saying MPs generally entertain such requests from members of their constituency.

Who is Pratap Simha?

Simha is the Member of Lok Sabha from Mysore-Kodagu. He first became an MP in 2014, before which he worked as a journalist in Kannada language publications. He is the former president of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha.

Simha’s tenure as MP has been marked by several controversies, including tussles with BJP leaders from Karnataka.

In December last year, when BJP was in power in Karnataka, Simha had said the appointment of the Mysore University vice-chancellor had involved corruption to the tune of Rs 5-6 crore and that there were irregularities in the appointment of assistant professors to the university.

After the BJP lost to Congress earlier this year in Karnataka, Simha had accused BJP governments under the chief ministerships of B S Yediyurappa and Basavaraj Bommai of not taking any action on corruption allegations against Opposition leaders, under some sort of an “understanding”. Simha was seen as close to national general secretary (organisation) B L Santhosh, and hence not in the Yediyurappa camp.

In February this year, he had created a row by saying stray dogs should be eliminated without compassion. “There is a Supreme Court order that stray dogs cannot be killed. Leaders from our own party create problems when stray dogs are killed. Even the media takes up incidents of attacks on stray dogs. While tigers and elephants have one or two litter, dogs have nearly 10 puppies. They should be eliminated without any compassion,” he had said.

In November last year, he had threatened to demolish a bus stand because it had “domes like a mosque”. The bus stand had been built using the area development fund of BJP MLA S A Ramdas. Ramdas had termed Simha’s comments “unfortunate” and said the structure of the bus stand was inspired by the Mysuru palace.

with inputs from Manoj CG