Karnataka became the first Indian state on Thursday to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Centre for developing and deploying the National e-Vidhan application, a digital platform that will modernise how the state's legislature conducts its daily business from question hour to bill tracking.
MoU signed at Vidhana Soudha
The agreement was formalised at Bengaluru's iconic Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the Karnataka Legislature. Officials from both the Karnataka Legislative Assembly and the Karnataka Legislative Council put pen to paper alongside representatives of the Union Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, which is steering the National e-Vidhan initiative nationwide.
Vidhana Soudha has housed Karnataka's lawmaking body since 1956. Thursday's signing marks the most significant technological overhaul attempted at the premises in decades. The building's 1950s-era paper-based workflows are expected to give way to fully digital records within 18 months, according to the agreed timeline.
What the National e-Vidhan app actually does
The application is not merely a document management system. It is designed to digitise end-to-end legislative operations including online admission of questions, real-time tracking of bill stages, digital voting records, and electronic transmission of notices to members of both houses.
At present, Karnataka's 224 legislative assembly members and 75 council members rely heavily on printed notice papers and physical registers. A member wishing to submit a starred question must file it in person at the assembly secretariat during working hours. The new system will allow submissions through a mobile-friendly portal accessible 24 hours a day.
Core functions going digital
The platform will cover six operational areas: question management, bill tracking, committee work, notice circulation, proceedings summary, and member attendance. Each function currently operates through separate paper-based channels with limited integration between them.
Government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity confirmed that the data architecture will follow standards set by the National Informatics Centre, ensuring compatibility with other state legislatures that sign future MoUs.
Why Karnataka was chosen first
The state carries the largest electorate among all Indian legislatures, with over 12.5 crore registered voters across 224 assembly segments. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju has publicly stated that the government wanted a high-volume legislature as the pilot site to stress-test the platform before wider rollout.
Karnataka also brings a relatively mature digital infrastructure. The state's Bhoomi online portal for land records and the Kaveri platform for civil supplies have been operational for over two decades, providing the secretariat staff with some familiarity with government digitisation projects.
The Karnataka Legislative Assembly secretariat has a sanctioned strength of 312 staff, many of whom currently spend hours manually collating documents before each session. Officials expect the app to reduce preparation time for a standard legislative day by roughly 60 percent.
Impact on Karnataka's 12.5 crore residents
For ordinary citizens, the change is not cosmetic. When question hour goes digital, the public will gain a searchable, time-stamped record of what was asked and answered on any given day. Citizens, journalists, and researchers currently rely on journalists' accounts or official records that can take days to be compiled and uploaded.
Transparency advocates have long complained that tracking a bill through its stages in Karnataka requires physically visiting the assembly library or waiting for periodic printed bulletins. The new platform will publish bill status updates in near-real time.
For the state's RTI infrastructure, the shift carries practical implications. Karnataka receives approximately 1.8 lakh RTI applications annually related to government schemes and civic issues. A digitally connected legislature will make it simpler to cross-reference whether a minister's statement in the house matches the written policy record.
What happens to the existing paper records
The agreement includes provisions for back-capturing legacy data. Approximately 70 years of legislative records held at Vidhana Soudha will be digitised on a priority basis, starting with records from the past five years. The process will be handled by a contracted vendor approved by the NIC.
Physical copies of all documents will be preserved under the Karnataka Legislative Assembly (Procedure) Rules, which mandate retention of originals. The digital versions will serve as working records for day-to-day operations.
Eight other states already in talks
Karnataka's signing has accelerated conversations with other legislatures. Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat have all indicated preliminary interest, according to sources in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Goa and Punjab have submitted formal expressions of intent.
The Centre has made clear that adoption of the National e-Vidhan platform remains voluntary. No central funding is tied to participation, but states that join receive technical support and software updates at no cost. Karnataka's willingness to bear its own implementation costs — estimated at around Rs 8 crore for hardware and staff training — removed a significant barrier to the agreement.
Watch the pilot over the next six months
The first test will come during the upcoming winter session of the Karnataka Legislature, expected to convene in late November. Officials at Vidhana Soudha have been given 90 days to install hardware, train support staff, and run parallel digital and paper systems to identify glitches before going fully live.
If the pilot succeeds, the Centre plans to formalise a template agreement that other states can sign within weeks rather than months. The question hour function has been designated as the primary performance metric. A member satisfaction survey will be conducted at the end of the session, and results will be shared with the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs by December 20.
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Gujarat have all indicated preliminary interest, according to sources in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs. Karnataka's willingness to bear its own implementation costs — estimated at around Rs 8 crore for hardware and staff training — removed a significant barrier to the agreement.Watch the pilot over the next six monthsThe first test will come during the upcoming winter session of the Karnataka Legislature, expected to convene in late November.
