House in (dis)order: Early adjournments not limited to NDA government

Early adjournments not limited to NDA government

Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Derek O’Brien on December 22, 2022, claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had cut short a Rajya Sabha (RS) session for the eighth consecutive time.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his team continue to mock Parliament. For the eighth time in a row, the BJP cuts short a Parliament session. They announce dates and then run away. The winter session (is) over a week ahead of time,” tweeted the MP from West Bengal.

Official records from the RS suggest the MP’s claim to be true.

However, the analysis also revealed that early adjournments have been happening since 2004, under the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government.

Under the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, the winter (258th) session of 2022, which commenced on December 7, 2022, was originally scheduled to have 17 sittings until December 29, 2022. However, it was adjourned sine die (which means the session was adjourned indefinitely) on December 23, 2022, with a total of 13 sittings occurring over the course of 17 days.

“It is the government alone that decides the duration of each session,” said Maansi Verma, founder of Maadhyam, a civic engagement initiative.

The winter session of the RS usually starts in the third or fourth week of November. This year, however, it was delayed due to the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections. The winter session ended early this year because there were not many important Bills that the government wanted to pass, and the session coincided with Christmas and New Year holidays, explained Verma.

“Early adjournments are lost opportunities for MPs to seek accountability from the government,” said Verma.

Early adjournments of sessions can have significant consequences as they limit the chances for MPs to question the government, raise important public issues, and participate in debates on policy issues through short-duration discussions and discussions, among other things, added Verma.

Source: IndiaSpend