New Delhi: Questioning the delay in proroguing the Monsoon session of Parliament, the Congress on Sunday asked whether Union Home Minister Amit Shah was still in search of his “super-tainted” two-thirds majority to get the delimitation-linked Constitutional amendment bill passed in a special session.
The Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha were adjourned sine die on August 13.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said the time gap between the adjournment of the Lok Sabha sine die and its prorogation (formal end) is generally two to four days, although there are many instances when adjournment and prorogation have taken place on the very 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 pointed out.
“It is true that the gap for the Monsoon session in 2015 was 28 days and in 2021 it was 20 days. But there were no diabolical moves afoot then,” the Congress leader said on X.
“What explains the abnormal delay now? Is the Union Home Minister still in search of his super-tainted 2/3rd majority to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Delimitation passed in a Special Session?” Ramesh said.
He also shared the screenshot of a page from M N Kaul and S L Shakdher’s “Practice and Procedure of Parliament” to highlight the process of prorogation of the House.
“Termination of a session of the House by an order made by the President under Article 85(2) is called prorogation. The President, in exercising the power to prorogue the House, acts on the advice of the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister may consult the Cabinet before the advice is submitted to the President.
“Prorogation of the House may take place any time, even while the House is sitting. Usually, however, prorogation follows the adjournment of the sitting of the House sine die. The period between prorogation of the House and its reassembly in a new session is termed as ‘inter-session period’,” the book says.
The Congress had said earlier that it was the opposition’s “success” that the attempt to get a “tainted” two-thirds majority was underway, but it could not succeed and the Constitution Amendment Bill involving delimitation could not be brought.
“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 Congress last week called for freezing the current strength of Lok Sabha at 543 seats for the next 25 years and demanded that 33 per cent reservation for women be implemented from the 2029 Lok Sabha elections.
The opposition party made the assertion after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) at the Indira Bhawan here.
Briefing reporters after the meeting, Ramesh had said that regarding delimitation, the Congress was in favour of keeping the current number of Lok Sabha seats — 543 — unchanged for the next 25 years.
“At the same time, we demand the implementation of women’s reservation on this very number,” Ramesh said.
In a resolution passed at the meeting, the CWC reiterated its commitment to the immediate implementation of women’s reservation.
“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 CWC resolution said.
The Congress had termed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appeal to opposition parties to support the delimitation-linked bill for implementing women’s reservation as a “drama”, and alleged that his single point agenda was “Modi preservation, not women’s reservation”.
During the Budget session on April 17, the Modi government faced a setback as the Constitution Amendment Bill, involving delimitation, for the implementation of the women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies was defeated in the Lower House.
Of the 528 MPs who voted in Lok Sabha, 298 voted in support, while 230 opposed it. The Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
