Written by Samaa Liyah Dhar With the members of the 18th Lok Sabha set to be elected on Tuesday, data compiled by the PRS Legislative Research, an independent group that tracks Parliament, shows that the 17th Lok Sabha was more productive than the 16th Lok Sabha, both led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP government. Over the five years of the 17th Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament functioned for 88% of its scheduled time compared to 21% for the 16th Lok Sabha. However, the 17th Lok Sabha held sittings for a total of 274 days across five years – only four previous Lok Sabha had fewer sitting days. Notably, in 2020, there were just 33 sitting days owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. In comparison, the 16th Lok Sabha had 331 sitting days. Of the total 15 sessions of the 17th Lok Sabha, 11 were adjourned early. The 17th Lok Sabha was notable for the record-high number of suspensions. There were a total 206 instances of MPs in both the Lower and Upper House being suspended. In the 2023 Winter Session alone, 146 MPs were suspended for staging protests in Parliament. The 17th Lok Sabha, like the previous one, saw one no-confidence motion moved against the government. Discussions lasted 20 hours, compared to 11 hours and 46 minutes in the 16th Lok Sabha, but the motion was defeated. The outgoing Lok Sabha was also notable for the absence of a Deputy Speaker. It’s the first time no Deputy Speaker was appointed for the duration of the Lok Sabha tenure. Article 93 of the Constitution states that “the House of the People (Lok Sabha) must choose the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker as soon as may be”. The 17th Lok Sabha passed 179 Bills, 58% of which were passed within two weeks of their introduction and 35% with less than an hour of discussion in the Lok Sabha. Among the key Bills passed were the Women’s Reservation Bill, the J&K Reorganisation Bill, the Appointment of CEC Bill, three labour codes, and the Digital Data Protection Bill. Three Bills replacing the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Indian Evidence Act, were also passed. In contrast, the 16th Lok Sabha passed 133 Bills, of which 32% were discussed for more than three hours. During the 17th Lok Sabha, most Bills were passed without recorded voting. About 9% of Bills were passed with at least one instance of recorded voting. There were also 29 Private Members’ Bills introduced, which is higher than all previous Lok Sabhas, except the 16th. Just 11 private member resolutions were moved in the Lok Sabha, of which three were discussed, though none were adopted. Just 16% of the Bills introduced were referred to committees for further examination. In the previous Lok Sabha, 25% of Bills were referred to committees. On average, committees held nine meetings to finalise reports on Bill that were referred to them. The three Bills to reform criminal laws were examined together over 12 meetings. Apart from the Data Protection Bill, only the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill was discussed for at least 15 meetings. During the 17th Lok Sabha, Question Hour functioned for 60% of its scheduled time. Under a quarter, or 24%, of the questions listed for oral response were answered by Ministers in the House. In the 16th Lok Sabha, Question Hour functioned for 67% of its scheduled time and 18% of starred questions received an oral answer.
