Lok Sabha not prorogued, is Amit Shah still looking for 2/3rd

Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh questioned Sunday why the Lok Sabha had not been prorogued after 10 days of its being adjourned sine die, wondering whether Union Home Minister Amit Shah was “still in search of” a two-thirds majority “to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on delimitation passed in a special session”.

He was referring to the twin package of a Constitutional Amendment Bill to advance women’s reservation to 2029 and a Delimitation Bill to increase the strength of the Lok Sabha to up to 850 seats, for which a delimitation exercise would be required. The government has stated that all states would see an increase of 50% seats so that there is no change in the proportion of seats allocated right now to states on the basis of the 1971 census, after which inter-state delimitation was frozen.

Key Analysis and Detailed Timeline

“The time gap between the adjournment of the Lok Sabha sine die and its prorogation is generally two to four days — although there are many instances when adjournment and prorogation have taken place on the very same day. Ten days have passed since Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die but still there is no information on its prorogation,” Ramesh stated.

“It is true that the gap for the Monsoon Session in 2015 was 28 days and in 2021 it was 20 days. But there were no diabolical moves afoot then,” he added.

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“Is the Union Home Minister still in search of his two-thirds majority to get the Constitutional Amendment Bill on Delimitation passed in a Special Session,” the Congress MP asked.

Former Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary informed The Indian Express that there was no clear rule as to when Parliament should be prorogued after the House is adjourned sine die. He stated that prorogation is a routine practice; that the President prorogues the House on the advice of the Council of Ministers.

Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

“This generally takes a few days. However, there is no stipulated time limit. In the past, there has also been an instance.

when the House was not prorogued until the next session began, and it was treated like a continuation of the previous session,” Achary stated. Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Kiren Rijiju did not respond to a request for comment from The Indian Express.