New Delhi, May 20
With the stage set for the formation of the new government, the first session of the 15th Lok Sabha is expected to be convened in the first week of June. There is a likelihood of the new House commencing from June 2 for a brief session before it is adjourned and recalled later for a full-fledged Budget session.

Formalities for convening the first session of the new Lok Sabha will start soon after the new government is sworn in on May 22 and the minister for parliamentary affairs appointed.

As per the procedure, the parliamentary affairs minister first intimates the Lok Sabha secretary general about the government’s decision to convene the House by a certain date. This communication is sent to the Lok Sabha Speaker for his assent, following which the LS secretariat sends the same to the President for her orders. Once the President signs the order for the commencement of the House, the same is notified to the newly-elected MPs for their attendance.

Though there is talk this time of the possibility of government planning a longer than expected session, the past precedence is to first conduct a brief session for oath affirmation to new members, President’s address, discussions on the motion of thanks on the Presidential address and election of the new LS Speaker. This would normally take about four days.

But the duration of this session could be longer than normal, considering the new government would have to seek a second vote-on-account until it presents a regular budget later. Earlier on February 16 this year, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee presented a vote-on-account in which the government took expenditure approvals till June 25.

With the term of approvals expiring in ending June and time needed to prepare a full-fledged general budget, it would be natural for the government to approach the Parliament for another vote-on-account for the period it chooses. The tradition is also to take two vote-on-accounts in an election year.

Moreover, this year, a second vote-on-account is necessitated for interim expenditure as the budget session would take about 75 days for all formalities to complete and the budget to come into effect upon the passage of appropriation bills.