Crucial Winter Session for Govt
The upcoming Winter Session of Parliament—the last full session before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections—might be a shorter one, officials indicated on Monday. Winter Session is crucial for Amit Shah‘s pet bill. The Home Minister is keen to get it passed in December.
The Bharatiya Sakshya Bill, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita were introduced in the Lok Sabha in August. They will lapse if not passed in the current Lok Sabha.
“These three bills are important for the ruling dispensation and the winter session is virtually the last chance to pass the legislation. The pre-election budget session will have a limited business of the President’s speech and the approval of the vote on account,” a leader said on condition of anonymity.
If the bills lapse, the ruling dispensation will have to return to power and then introduce the draft laws in the 18th Lok Sabha.
Last month, the four-day special session of Parliament, which passed the women’s reservation bill, turned out to be one of the top-performing sessions in the recent past in terms of utilization of time and debates. Modi Govt was aware of the dire need for the Winter Session.
Five states — Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram — will go to Assembly polls between November 7 and 30, in which key political parties including the BJP and the Congress have major stakes. While the government has not finalized any schedule for the Winter Session, a possible window lies in the last week of November, two officials said, requesting anonymity.
“The polling in Mizoram (November 7), Madhya Pradesh (November 17), Chhattisgarh (November 7 and 17), and Rajasthan election (November 25) would be over by the third week of November,” said the first official. “This gives us an opportunity for the session to start in the last week of November and finish it before Christmas.”
The Winter Session can also start after the Telangana poll on November 30, another official said. The counting of the five state polls will be held on December 3. The Winter Session of Parliament typically lasts a month.
While both Houses of Parliament have already met three times for the budget, monsoon, and the special session, leaders maintain that the Winter Session would be important as the government would be keen to pass the three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Evidence Act.
Adjourning the House on September 21, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla said the productivity of the session was 132% and the proceedings lasted 31 hours. “This session will be recorded as a historic session in parliamentary history as Parliament started its journey from the new building during this session,” he said.
In the short but impactful session, lawmakers of both Houses held a discussion in the old building on the 75 years of Parliament. On September 19, a special program was arranged at the Central Hall before Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other lawmakers walked down from the old building to the new one in the same complex.
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