Congress to get Chair of 4 standing committees in the 18th Lok Sabha

In the 18th Lok Sabha, the Congress will chair four of the total 24 department-related parliamentary standing committees, including crucial ones on external affairs and agriculture. Parliament has 24 standing committees, 16 of which are served by the Lok Sabha and eight by the Rajya Sabha.

Of the Lok Sabha’s 16 panels, the Congress will chair the ones on external affairs; agriculture, animal husbandry and food processing; and rural development and panchayati raj. Of the Rajya Sabha’s eight, it will chair the panel on education, women, children, youth and sports, party sources said.

Congress’ INDIA bloc allies Samajwadi Party, Trinamool Congress and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) could also get to chair a parliamentary panel each.

With only 52 MPs in the 17th Lok Sabha, the Congress had the chairmanship of only one of the 16 standing committees of the Lower House. Since its Rajya Sabha numbers were healthier, it chaired two of the eight Upper House panels.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), given its numbers in the two Houses during the tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha, headed 16 of the 24 panels, and its allies Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena headed one each.

Department-related standing committees scrutinise the budgetary allocations of Union ministries and bills introduced in Parliament, review policies and recommend changes. Each panel has 31 members, including the chairperson.

Apart from the 24 panels, Parliament has three financial committees. Congress’ KC Venugopal is the chairperson of the Public Accounts Committee, while the BJP’s Sanjay Jaiswal and Baijayant Panda head the Estimates Committee and Public Undertakings Committee, respectively.


House panels

 Parliament has 24 department-related standing committees

 16 served by Lok Sabha and 8 by Rajya Sabha

 Each committee has 31 members (21 LS and 10 RS MPs nominated by Speaker and RS Chairman, respectively)

 Congress set to chair 3 committees of LS and 1 of RS

 In the 17th LS, BJP headed 16 panels, with allies JDU and SS headed 1 each