Last Parliament session before Lok Sabha polls? Speculations rife

NEW DELHI: The Centre, in a tweet by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, has called for a five-day special session of Parliament from September 18th to the 22nd. The agenda for this special session, however, was not revealed.

“Special Session of Parliament (13th Session of 17th Lok Sabha and 261st Session of Rajya Sabha) is being called from 18th to 22nd September having 5 sittings. Amid Amrit Kaal looking forward to have fruitful discussions and debate in Parliament,” tweeted Joshi.

Soon after the announcement was made speculations on the agenda for the five-day session began to circulate. One of the agenda items speculated upon was dissolving the current Parliament and announcement of early Lok Sabha elections. This decision, however, can be brought about by a cabinet decision and therefore convening a special sitting of Parliament if early Lok Sabha elections was indeed the agenda, was not a requirement. However, what could be part of the BJP government’s plan as per sources is that the government would put forth its achievements of the past five years and explain to the people via the parliament session the need to hold snap polls along with state elections that are scheduled to be held this year.

However all this is only a matter of speculation sources said, confirming that no one is quite sure what the agenda is for the parliament session next month.

Some of the other agenda items that were in this speculative list included a discussion on the Centre’s recent achievements, including the G20 Leaders' summit in Delhi and success of Chandrayaan-3 mission, under the second term of PM Modi coined as ‘Amrit Kaal’, a term used to denote a ‘Golden’ period of governance. Also in the possible agenda list was introduction of the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill, which as the name suggests would mean simultaneous state and general elections.

However, One Nation – One Election would need a constitutional amendment and then it would need to be taken to state assemblies. It is not a new concept having taken place four times in the 1950’s and 60's but India has fewer states and a smaller population that could vote.

On all the three speculative agenda items listed above there was no confirmation or denial by government sources who were asked to comment on the snap announcement of a special session.

Criticising the Centre’s move, Congress’s Communication in charge Jairam Ramesh termed it “managing the news cycle.”

“Managing the News Cycle, Modi style. 1. News today has been dominated by latest revelations on the Modani-scam. 2. Tomorrow the ever-growing INDIA parties meet in Mumbai. How to counter? Announce a 5-day special session of Parliament when Monsoon session has just ended 3 weeks back. Regardless, the JPC demand will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament,” Said Jairam Ramesh in a tweet.