Winter session of Parliament before Lok Sabha polls is usually short

The winter session of Parliament, which will begin next month, will be the second shortest of this Lok Sabha (the one in 2022 was the shortest with just 13 sittings). It will last barely 19 days, and will also be the 17th Lok Sabha’s last Parliament session before the country heads for a general election next year.

This is not an aberration. Data from PRS Legislative Research, a New-Delhi based independent institute that tracks the country’s legislative business, shows that shorter winter sessions before an election year are a norm.
 

The last winter session of the 16th Lok Sabha in 2018, convened ahead of the 2019 general election, had worked for just 74 hours. Compare that to the first winter session of the 16th Lok Sabha in 2014, which had lasted over 200 hours.

The first winter session of the 17th Lok Sabha had lasted about 240 hours. And the last one could put in 228 hours — provided both Houses of Parliament work for at least six hours each on all the 19 days set aside for business. The session is beginning late since the results of the Assembly elections in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram are to be announced.

Meanwhile, the final winter session of the 15th Lok Sabha had lasted barely 10 days, and the two Houses, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, had collectively put in just 16 hours (chart 1).

Matters of legislation and those of national importance, which have gone undiscussed during the Budget or the monsoon session, are set aside for the winter session, which is typically the shortest of the year.

“The vagaries of government business should not be the only consideration of the length of a parliamentary session. Parliament should meet more regularly,” says Chakshu Roy, head of legislative and civic engagement, PRS Legislative Research. “It would ensure that Parliament focuses its attention on national issues that require deliberation.”

Data shows that a large part of the productive time in Parliament is spent on non-legislative matters such as discussion on motion of thanks by the President, conduct of fellow parliamentarians and so on.

The Lok Sabha spent one-fourth of its time discussing matters of legislation in the winter session of 2022 and just 11 per cent answering questions. Over 44 per cent of the time was spent on non-legislative matters. The Rajya Sabha, on the other hand, spent a little over a third of its time on legislative business (chart 2).

Meanwhile, the winter session of 2024 — the first one of the 18th Lok Sabha — would likely be a longer one in keeping with past trends.