Parliament’s monsoon session is expected to begin on July 20 and run until August 13, according to reports. The four-week session is likely to have 19 sittings.
The session is being watched closely as it comes after internal churn in parties such as the Trinamool Congress and the Uddhav Shiv Sena. Reports say a group of 20 dissatisfied TMC Lok Sabha MPs recently joined a party active in Tripura and have indicated support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), seeking separate seating in the House.
Similarly, six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs from the Uddhav Shiv Sena are said to have joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and extended support to the NDA. Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla is reportedly holding consultations on allotting separate seats to these MPs.
With the NDA’s strength in the Lok Sabha said to have improved, the Union government is planning to bring back key proposals, including the women’s reservation bill and the 131st Constitutional Amendment Bill linked to constituency delimitation. The revised proposal is reported to include provisions that could raise the number of members in the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies by up to 50%.
The bills were introduced during a special session held after the Budget session in April, but did not pass as constitutional amendments require a two-thirds majority. Reports say the government is now working to secure the remaining support in both Houses, while opposition parties are preparing to raise issues such as the NEET question paper leak, petrol and diesel price rise, alleged irregularities in Ayodhya Ram temple donations, disaster management, inflation, unemployment and voter list revision.
