The Lok Sabha faced significant disruptions during the Winter Session of Parliament, with 65 hours lost in the third session alone and over 70 hours lost cumulatively across all three sessions. Beginning on November 25, the session concluded abruptly today after being adjourned sine die, following ongoing protests by Opposition MPs over a scuffle that occurred on December 19.
Before Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die, Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal moved a motion that the two bills concerning ‘One Nation, One Election’ be referred to a Joint Committee of the two Houses.
The motion, which had names of 27 members from the Lok Sabha, was approved amid din in the House. The committee will have 12 members from the Rajya Sabha.
#WinterSession #WinterSession2024 #Parliament #LokSabha #18thloksabhasession pic.twitter.com/7ZDKCR6MzZ
— LOK SABHA (@LokSabhaSectt) December 20, 2024
This resulted in a staggering loss of over Rs 97.87 crore of taxpayers’ money due to disruptions in Lok Sabha proceedings alone. With the cost of running a Parliament session exceeding Rs 2.5 lakh per minute, the financial implications are significant.
Meanwhile, at a media briefing, parliamentary affairs minister Kiren Rijiu blamed the opposition, particularly the Congress, stating that their “persistent demonstrations was the main factor contributing to reduced productivity.”
The Lower House met on November 25 and was adjourned sine die (indefinitely) on Friday amid protests by the opposition and the treasury benches over the alleged insult to BR Ambedkar and directions by Speaker Om Birla to members against holding demonstrations at any gate of Parliament.
#WATCH | Delhi | On the Winter session of Parliament, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Kiren Rijiju says, “In this session of Parliament, there were 20 sittings of Lok Sabha and 19 sittings of Rajya Sabha in 26 days. 4 and 3 bills were passed in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha,… https://t.co/C6jKFd7cdZ
— ANI (@ANI) December 20, 2024
Among the key bills introduced during the session were two that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections. The two bills were on Friday referred to a joint committee of Parliament for examination and wider consultations.