Winter Session of Parliament from December 1; truncated one, says Oppn

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said the winter session of  Parliament would be held from December 1 to 19. During the session, the two Houses would potentially have 15 sittings. In recent years, the shortest winter session was in 2013, which had only 10 sittings, and the one in 2022,which had 13. 

In 2025, if Parliament sits for all 15 sittings planned during the session, it would have sat for 62 days, or 21 days on average for each of the three sessions in the year. In 2024, during the course of the current Lok Sabha (LS), Parliament had 42 sittings (22 in the inaugural session, and 20 in the Winter Session).    

Opposition parties have criticised the government and termed the Winter Session of 2025 with only 15 sittings, as an “unusually delayed” and truncated session. Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said, “It will be just 15 working days. What is the message being conveyed? Clearly, the government has no business to transact, no Bills to get passed, and no debates to be allowed.” Sitting days in the LS have declined from an annual average of 121 days during 1952-70 to 68 days since 2000, according to a PRS Legislative Research analysis.        

Parliament is usually convened for three sessions in a year.