New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday sought an explanation for the delay in formally bringing the Monsoon session of Parliament to an end, asking whether Union Home Minister Amit Shah was still attempting to gather the two-thirds majority needed to pass a Constitution Amendment Bill connected with delimitation in a special session.
Both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on August 13. However, the formal prorogation of the Houses is still awaited.
Congress general secretary in charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said Parliament is normally prorogued within two to four days of being adjourned sine die. He noted that, on some occasions, both processes have taken place on the same day.
“Ten days have gone by since this Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die but still there is no information on its prorogation,” Ramesh said in a post on X.
The Congress leader admitted that prorogation had been delayed by 28 days after the 2015 Monsoon session and by 20 days in 2021. “But there were no diabolical moves afoot then,” he said.
“What explains the abnormal delay now? Is the Union Home Minister still in search of his tainted 2/3rd majority to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Delimitation passed in a Special Session?” Ramesh asked.
He posted an extract from Practice and Procedure of Parliament, authored by M N Kaul and S L Shakdher. The book says prorogation is the formal conclusion of a parliamentary session through an order issued by the President under Article 85(2), acting on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Congress Cites Opposition Role
The Congress had earlier attributed the government’s failure to obtain the required majority to what it called the opposition’s success in resisting the legislation, as reported by The New Indian Express.
“They don’t have a two-thirds majority and will never get it,” Ramesh had said after the two Houses were adjourned sine die.
The controversy over delimitation has intensified in recent weeks. The Congress has demanded that the Lok Sabha’s current strength of 543 seats remain unchanged for the next 25 years. It has also sought the continuation of the existing distribution of seats among states during the period.
The party wants the provision for reserving one-third of Lok Sabha seats for women to be enforced from the 2029 general election.
Delimitation Bill Faces Hurdles
The demands were repeated in a resolution adopted by the Congress Working Committee. “The Congress Working Committee reinforces its demand that the constitutional freeze on the current strength of the Lok Sabha and its present allocation among the states be extended for the next 25 years, while one-third reservation for women be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections itself,” the resolution said.
The Congress has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of presenting women’s reservation as a route to advance the government’s delimitation plans. It described his appeal to opposition parties to back the bill as “drama” and alleged that the government was pursuing “Modi preservation, not women’s reservation”.
During the Budget session on April 17, the Constitution Amendment Bill dealing with delimitation and women’s reservation could not cross the constitutional majority threshold in the Lok Sabha.
A total of 528 MPs took part in the vote. While 298 members supported the bill, 230 voted against it. The legislation required 352 votes for approval.