Lok Sabha passes Bill on banker's books without debate
The Lok Sabha on 5 August 2026 passed a Bill making digital and virtual records admissible as evidence in courts, putting it to a voice vote without any debate as Opposition members continued sloganeering. The episode illustrates two themes candidates are repeatedly asked about: the erosion of legislative scrutiny amid disruption, and the updating of colonial-era statutes for a digital economy.
What happened
When the House reassembled at 2 p.m. after an earlier adjournment, Opposition members ignored the Chair's appeals to discuss the legislation, and the Bill was put to vote and passed by voice vote without a debate, after which proceedings were adjourned for the day. The measure, described in the report as the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 2026, will repeal or replace the Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891, and provides for digital and virtual records to be admissible as evidence in courts. Earlier in the morning, Speaker Om Birla said protesting members had not allowed Question Hour to function since the Monsoon Session began on 20 July, and remarked that raising slogans inside or outside the House is not good for democracy, before adjourning the House till 2 p.m.
Why it matters
Passing a Bill that alters the law of evidence for banking records without a single speaker on the floor raises the question of whether the House is performing its scrutiny function or merely recording assent. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju blamed the Opposition, saying Congress leader K.C. Venugopal, though a good person, had not been able to control his party's MPs, and further accused the Congress, the communist party and the Samajwadi Party of being against Lord Ram and demanded an apology to the nation. The Opposition, for its part, has been pressing the government for a response on police action against students protesting at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi and elsewhere over the NEET paper 'leak', and on the alleged theft of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
Prelims: Bankers' Books Evidence Act, 1891, and its proposed replacement · admissibility of digital and virtual records as evidence · voice vote versus division in the Lok Sabha · Question Hour and the Speaker's power of adjournment · role of the Minister of Parliamentary Affairs.
Mains (GS-II): The passage of legislation by voice vote amid disruption, without debate, is a symptom rather than a cause of declining legislative scrutiny in India. Examine.
Reported by one newsroom. Nothing here has been corroborated against a second account — check it before relying on it in an answer.
Background
The Bankers' Books Evidence Act dates to 1891, and the new Bill is intended to repeal or replace it so that digital and virtual records count as admissible evidence. The Monsoon Session began on 20 July 2026, and by the Speaker's own account Question Hour had not functioned on any day since, with the House on 5 August adjourned once in the morning and again after the Bill's passage.