Shortest Parliament Winter Session from Dec 1-19 in recent past: What to expect

The Winter session of Parliament is to commence on December 1 and will end on December 19, thus making it one of the shortest sessions in the recent past with only 15 sittings.

Making the announcement on X, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Saturday that President Droupadi Murmu had approved the government's proposal to convene the Winter Session of Parliament on the abovementioned dates.

“Looking forward to a constructive & meaningful session that strengthens our democracy & serves the aspirations of the people,” he posted on X.

The session would be held just two weeks after the declaration of results of the Bihar assembly elections on November 14 and is expected to be a stormy one, with the Opposition led by the Congress likely to raise several issues, such as the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in several states and the issue of alleged "vote theft" in states like Haryana, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

Reacting to the announcement of the Winter session, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said on X, "It has just been announced that the Winter Session of Parliament will be from December 1st until the 19th. This is unusually delayed and truncated. It will be just 15 working days. What message is being conveyed? Clearly, the Government has no business to transact, no Bills to get passed, and no debates to be allowed."

The previous Monsoon session of Parliament was held from July 21 to August 21. It had 21 sittings spread over 32 days, during which 15 Bills were passed by both Houses of Parliament.

Two-thirds of the stipulated time was lost to disruptions in that session.