Parliamentary rules state that dates for an upcoming session have to be notified 15 days before it begins, to give Members of Parliament enough time to make their way to Delhi. As of November 9, dates for the winter session are yet to be made public. This means, at the very least, the third Session of the calendar year, which traditionally begins in the last third of November, will be pushed to December. If some murmurs in Delhi are to be believed, it may not even happen at all.
NDTV first reported a week ago that the government was considering either conducting a shorter winter session or calling it off altogether. Official rules state that Parliament has to meet every six months, and the last session ended on August 11, so that would technically give the government until February. But convention for decades now has been to have three sessions in a calendar year, Budget at the start, monsoon usually in July and August and winter over November and December. In 2016, for example, the Winter Session began on November 16.
A week after NDTV’s report, even more outlets are now reporting that the session may be shortened or not happen at all. The Indian Express on Thursday cited top sources in government saying the session will likely be put off until well into December. Mint echoed this, saying senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party would like the session to be held later.
All about Gujarat
The reason given? Gujarat. Specifically state assembly elections in Gujarat, which goes to the polls in two phases on December 9 and December 14.
This is primarily due to the twin economic hits of demonetisation, now generally believed to have failed, and the botched roll-out of the Goods and Services Tax. To add to that, several key communities in the state have decided to go against the BJP, though it has ruled the state for two decades now. While the BJP is the front-runner in the state, it has appeared more nervous about this election than any other time in recent memory. The party spent the last few weeks announcing a huge number of sops to quell discontent from traders after the botched rollout of the Goods and Services Tax and has sent leaders from across the country to campaign in the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah.
Speaking to Mint an unidentified BJP leader justified the likely postponement on the grounds that Parliament would not be able to do much work if all the leaders, not just their own but Congress’ as well, are out campaigning. But the Congress and the Opposition in general has been looking forward to the winter session, hoping to use a broad anti-BJP front to turn the spotlight on the failure of demonetisation and the botched rollout of the Goods and Services Tax.
Running from Parliament
“The Prime Minister is running away from Parliament and debates. He is scared to face Parliament before the Gujarat elections. What is happening is an assault on democracy,” said Anand Sharma, Congress deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha. The Trinamool Congress’ Derek O’Brien also brought up the matter, saying, “I don’t know why the government is so cagey about dates. It may be a good idea to make a parliament calendar at the start of the year, so the dates become sacrosanct.”
Processes around these elections already took an unusual turn last month when the Election Commission broke precedent to announce polling in Himachal without giving dates for Gujarat, two states that are usually given their dates at the same time. Though the Commission claimed it had something to do with flood relief, the Opposition insisted that the government had put pressure on the Election Commission to delay dates so more sops could be announced before the model code of conduct came into effect.
If the government does indeed delay or cancel altogether the winter session simply because it is worried about being cornered ahead of the election, it is likely to be seen as yet another example of an administration that doesn’t care for conventions, institutions and processes. Indeed, the original NDTV report reflected this, saying while the original plan was to call off the session altogether, the government could end up choosing to have a short one in December “if the opposition’s reaction is severely critical.”