Lok Sabha adjourned sine die after month-long winter session

The Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die Tuesday after a month-long winter session which saw a "record" number of bills being passed.

"The lower house passed a record 18 legislations, including amendment bills on coal mines allocation and labour laws, in 22 sittings," Speaker Sumitra Mahajan informed the house in her customary address at the end of the session.

Mahajan announced the sine die adjournment shortly after the house reassembled at noon after a half-an-hour adjournment over opposition demands for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's statement on the issue of forced conversions.

Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge made an attempt to seek a response from the prime minister, who was present in the house, but the speaker firmly said nobody would be allowed to speak.

"I will not allow anyone to speak. I will not allow even the prime minister to speak," she said.

When Kharge tried to raise the issue again and again, Mahajan quipped: "You don't say anything good" to which the veteran Congress leader replied: "I will say something good" and again asked Modi to make a statement.

The speaker in her address said: "I am happy to inform you that 18 legislations were passed during the session which is a record of sorts in the recent years," she said.

She said almost three hours were lost due to disruptions and adjournments, and that during the 22 sittings of this session, the Lok Sabha unanimously adopted two resolutions condemning the massacre of innocent school children in Peshawar and the release on bail of 26/11 mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi by a Pakistani court.