Private Members' Bills listed in Rajya Sabha for the upcoming Monsoon Session include one that seeks prohibition on holders of Constitutional posts like judges joining a political party post retirement, a few Bills on artificial intelligence and deepfake, as well as one on amending the citizenship law. In all, 23 Private Members' Bills have been listed for introduction in the upcoming session in the Upper House. The Constitution (amendment) Bill, 2024 (amendment of articles 124, 148, 319 and 324 and insertion of new articles 220A and 309A), listed by RJD MP AD Singh, seeks to bar those retiring from Constitutional posts, like judges and former election commissioners from joining political parties post retirement, a source said.

The Bill comes against the backdrop of recent controversies such as one involving Calcutta High Court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned from his judicial position on March 5, and within two days, joined the BJP. In July, former Madhya Pradesh High Court judge Rohit Arya joined the BJP, three months after his retirement.

Trinamool Congress MP Mausam Noor has also listed two Bills, one on protecting rights of employees from artificial intelligence, and another seeking criminalisation of 'deepfake'. Deepfake involves morphing someone's face or other features of their body digitally to make it appear like someone else, typically for malicious purposes.

During the recently concluded Lok Sabha polls, concerns were expressed over the use of deepfake videos to spread misinformation. Union Home Minister Amit Shah was one of its victims while P Sandosh Kumar of CPI has listed a bill to create an Artificial Intelligence Technology Regulatory Authority.