A Whip means a Member of Parliament who is an administrative officer to his or her parliamentary political party. The most senior Whips are the Government Whip and Opposition Whip. The Standing Orders also provide for Minority Parties to elect Whips.
Party Whips ensure party and parliamentary discipline, that MPs are not truant, that they behave, attend voting processes and vote according to their party position. They help the Speaker, as enforcers, to ensure the smooth running of Parliament. If a Member is not in the House, the Speaker would require the Whip to account for that Member. If the debate is limited in terms of time and number of MPs who can debate, Whips would submit priority list of MPs for the debate. They also sit in key Parliamentary Committees, Businesses Advisory Committee and Committee of Selection. According to the rules of order and procedure, only Government and Opposition Whip sit in the Business Advisory Committee and Committee of Selection.
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