Parliament Special Session: The Modi government on Thursday announced a 5-day special session of the Parliament which will be held from September 18-22, 2023. However, the government has kept the agenda of the special session under the carpet, maintaining secrecy which has triggered a lot of speculations on why it has been called.
“Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having five sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal, looking forward to having fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said on X, formerly Twitter.
It will be the first such special session under the nine years of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government which had convened a special joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to mark the midnight GST roll-out on June 30, 2017.
However, it will be a full-fledged session of five days this time with both Houses meeting separately as they usually do during sessions. Generally, three parliamentary sessions are held in a year- Budget, Monsoon and Winter sessions.
Sources said the “special session” could see parliamentary operations being shifted to the new Parliament building which was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 28.
But since the agenda has not been informed yet, speculations are doing the rounds that the government may push some showpiece bills ahead of key state assembly polls followed by next year’s Lok Sabha elections.
Parliament’s Special Session: What could be possible scenarios
Speculations are doing the rounds that the Modi government may introduce some key bills in the special session of the Parliament. Let’s take a look at what are those bills which the government may introduce:
- Uniform Civil Code (UCC)
- One Nation One Election
- Bill on women’s reservation
- Bill on the pension scheme
Is the govt going to call for early Lok Sabha elections? What experts have to say
Election analysts are also of the view that the government may call for an early Lok Sabha elections, that are due to be held next year.
Speaking on the possible scenarios of the upcoming special session of the Parliament, election expert Rashid Kidwai while speaking to India TV said, “A secrecy on the Parliament’s session cannot be maintained for long because the business advisory committee and also the political parties had to be informed on the agenda of the session at least a week before by the government.”
Commenting on if the government wants to call for an early election, Kidwai said that the government doesn’t require a special session to declare early elections, they have the majority, they can recommend it to the President and the elections can be conducted.
The reason for the special session could be related to some bill, he said.
Responding to if the government wants to bring a bill on ‘One Nation One Election’, the Kidwai said that for this, dissolving the governments in the non-BJP ruled states would again be a challenging task.
Speaking on if the government wants to bring a bill on the ‘Places of Worship Act’, he said that this issue may not be able to bring a change in the election environment in the country which could bring immediate results for the current government.
According to Rashid Kidwai, bringing the UCC bill on the introduction level is the only possible scenario which he feels the government has called for a special session.
Another election expert Sudhir felt that the special session could be related to the pension scheme.
Among other speculations that are doing the rounds, the recent historic success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission and India’s goals for ‘Amrit Kaal’ may be part of the wider discussions during the special session, which will come a week after the G20 summit meeting scheduled for September 9-10.
Incidentally, the special session is being convened a day after Modi’s 73rd birthday. The BJP observes the 16-day period from Modi’s birthday to Gandhi Jayanti on October 2 as ‘sewa pakhwara’ during which various programmes are held across the country.
Parliament Special Sessions in the past
The last time Parliament met outside its three usual sessions was –at midnight on June 30, 2017, to mark the rollout of GST.
However, it was a joint sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha and was not a proper session.
A six-day special sitting was held in August 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of India’s independence.
Midnight sessions were also held on August 9, 1992, for the 50th anniversary of the ‘Quit India Movement’, August 14-15, 1972 to celebrate the silver jubilee of India’s independence, while the first such session was on August 14-15, 1947 on the eve of India’s independence.
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