 "Winter session of Parliament from December 4, to have 15 sittings")
The winter session of Parliament will commence on December 4 and will continue till December 22, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prahlad Joshi announced on Thursday.
With 15 sittings spread across 19 days, it is poised to become the second shortest winter session of the current Lok Sabha, and it will be convened a day after the Assembly elections results of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana are announced.
The session could see the government seeking a Parliamentary nod for additional fiscal spending, especially to allocate funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) and fertiliser subsidy.
The session will also have the Ethics Committee of Parliament table its report on the “cash-for-query” allegations against Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra, and the Standing Committee on Home tabling its report on three bills to replace the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and the Indian Evidence Act.
The Ethics Committee has recommended Mitra's expulsion.
The Lok Sabha will have to adopt the report before the expulsion recommended by the panel comes into effect.
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As for the bills to replace the IPC, CrPC, and the Evidence Act, the Standing Committee on Home has already adopted the three reports recently.
The Lok Sabha referred the bills to the parliamentary panel on the last day of the monsoon session in August.
The government could push for the passage of the Bill related to appointing the chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners (ECs).
The government introduced it in the monsoon session but did not push for its passage in the special session of Parliament, which was held in September.
The Opposition and former CECs have protested the Bill as it seeks to bring on par the status of the CECs and ECs with that of the cabinet secretary.
At present, they enjoy the status of a Supreme Court judge.
Winter sessions usually begin in the third week of November, with the two Houses prorogued a few days before Christmas.
However, the winter session in 2022 --- from 7 December to 23 – was the shortest in recent decades, with only 13 sittings.
The winter session in 2021 --- from 29 November to 22 December --- convened for 18 days.
In 2019, it was scheduled from 18 November to 13 December, with 20 sittings.
The Parliament did not have a winter session in 2020 because of the pandemic.