Sharing login details for typing help is unfathomable, LS Secretariat tells SC on Mahua Moitra’s defence
The Hindu
Lok Sabha Secretariat deems sharing login credentials with unauthorized personnel as a national security threat in court battle.
The Lok Sabha Secretariat has told the Supreme Court that expelled Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra’s defence that she shared her “confidential” Lok Sabha login credentials with Dubai-based business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani to help her type her questions is “unfathomable”.
The Secretariat said Ms. Moitra’s login credentials, that is, user ID and password for the Lok Sabha Members’ Portal, were used 47 times from the IP address belonging to Mr. Hiranandani, including when she was not in Dubai.
“Sharing credentials to the login portal can be susceptible to potential national security hazards and can not only render the system of the Lok Sabha to cyber-attacks and potentially disable the system, but can also potentially cripple the functioning of the Parliament of India. These are valid concerns of national security as well as the dignity and independence of Parliamentary functioning,” the Lok Sabha Secretariat submitted in a 41-page affidavit.
The Secretariat was responding to a petition filed by Ms. Moitra, who has challenged her expulsion as an MP.
Ms. Moitra had argued that the sharing of log-in details did not mean giving control of the portal. Giving controlled access to log-in details cannot be termed as “hacking”. There was no violation of ethics involved as there was no quid pro quo. No MP herself operated the portal. Out of necessity, any MP shared log-in details with her secretaries, delegates or nominees. There had been no code of conduct or rules for authorised or controlled access to the portal.
“She was expelled without there being a set of rules for sharing the access code,” senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, appearing for Ms. Moitra, had submitted in the Supreme Court.
But the Lok Sabha Secretariat said an MP was given enough personnel to help her with her official responsibilities.
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