BRICS Parliamentary Forum to meet in Delhi on October 26-27

Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla sidesteps all questions regarding the delay in proroguing the Monsoon Session of Parliament and speculation about a special sitting to deliberate on delimitation legislation.

A two-day conference of the 12th BRICS Parliamentary Forum will be held in New Delhi on October 26 and 27, with discussions centred on "fostering Parliaments for People-Centric Development", Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said at a press conference on Thursday (October 22, 2026).

"The two-day conference will include both bilateral and multilateral discussions. Presiding officers, members of Parliament and other dignitaries from BRICS and partner countries will brainstorm on strategic priorities for Parliaments," he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also attend the event, though no separate invitations were extended to Opposition leaders of the two Houses.

The deliberations will cover "institutional resilience, ethical artificial intelligence, digital transformation, reform of global governance and sustainable development". India had received confirmation from most participating countries, though Saudi Arabia and Ethiopia expressed their inability to participate.

Meanwhile, the Speaker avoided all questions regarding the delay in proroguing the Monsoon Session of Parliament and speculation about a special sitting to deliberate on delimitation legislation.

"Article 85 of the Constitution clearly says that the Speaker has no role in calling or proroguing a session. If I had a role, then I would have given a judgment," he said, adding that the decision rested with the government.

Disqualification of rebel MPs

Regarding the disqualification of 20 MPs who broke away from the original Trinamool Congress (TMC), Mr. Birla said he would expedite the process once the lawmakers submitted their responses. "Just like the Supreme Court is hearing the case, my court is also hearing the case, I cannot pass the judgment here," he said. On September 23, the Supreme Court said it expected the Lok Sabha Speaker to take an "expeditious" decision on the plea seeking their disqualification.

After the West Bengal Assembly elections, 20 then TMC MPs announced they had joined the little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and sought separate recognition in the House. This has been challenged by the TMC, which argued that the MPs were elected on its symbol and that their decision to align with another political formation amounted to voluntarily giving up party membership, attracting disqualification under the anti-defection law.