Adjourned, not prorogued: Parl's Monsoon Session
New Delhi: The Monsoon session of Parliament has yet to conclude formally, despite being adjourned sine die ten days ago, leading to speculation that the government intends to pass a significant bill without convening a new session. On August 13, both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die, typically prorogued within three to four days. However, the prorogation notification for the Monsoon session has not been issued since Sunday.
Budget session adjourned on April 18 and prorogued on April 20. Constitutional provisions dictate that the president convenes and prorogues the session on the government's recommendation. There is strong speculation that the government may introduce a bill to amend the women's reservation law to ensure its implementation before the 2029 parliamentary elections.
The government's previous attempt to pass the bill during the Budget session failed as they could not garner sufficient support. Opposition parties, particularly from the south, are concerned that population-based delimitation may reduce their strength in the Lok Sabha.
To address these concerns, the government has proposed a uniform 50% increase in the number of Lok Sabha seats across states and Union territories. Speculation suggests that the government may seek to pass the constitutional amendment bill for the delimitation-linked Women's Reservation Bill after Independence Day. The Congress questioned the lack of prorogation even ten days after the sine die adjournment and inquired whether Home Minister Amit Shah is still pursuing a super-tainted two-thirds majority to pass the bill in a special session.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh noted that the gap between sine die adjournment and prorogation is usually two to four days, although there are instances where both occur on the same day. Ramesh acknowledged past delays, such as those in 2015 and 2021, but emphasized that there were no underhanded tactics then. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay raised the issue at a Southern Zonal Council meeting chaired by Shah on August 21.
Karnataka Chief Minister D K Shivakumar demanded that the central government retain the existing number of Lok Sabha seats for the next 25 years.
Written by urgent.news from The Economic Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
