The historical journey of parliamentary sessions in India

Here’s a closer look at these sessions, their objectives, and their origins.

From Winter to Monsoon Session

The President inaugurates the formal parliamentary year with an address outlining the government’s agenda following a successful election. As academics Vernon Hewitt and Shirin M Rai note in their essay Parliament, featured in The Oxford Companion to Politics in India, this practice “neatly substitutes the Monarch’s Speech at the opening of the British Parliament.”

India does not have a fixed parliamentary calendar. Conventionally though, Lok Sabha convenes in three sessions annually. The question of establishing fixed dates for these sessions was deliberated by the General Purposes Committee of Lok Sabha during a meeting on April 22, 1955. The committee recommended a timetable, as noted by former parliamentarians M N Kaul and S L Shakdher in the sixth edition of their book, Practice and Procedure of Parliament.

According to the proposed schedule:

1. The Budget Session would commence on February 1 and terminate on May 7.

2. The Autumn Session would begin on July 15 and end on September 15.

3. The Winter Session would start on November 5 or four days after Diwali (whichever is later) and conclude on December 22.

While the Cabinet accepted these recommendations, the timetable has not been strictly followed in practice. Sessions typically begin during the designated months, though their specific dates and lengths depend on the workload before the House.

The Budget Session (February to May), considered the most important, begins the parliamentary year. The President addresses both Houses of Parliament in a joint session, setting the tone for the year’s legislative agenda. Additionally, this session features the presentation and discussion of the Railways and General Budgets, earning its popular name, the Budget Session.

The Monsoon Session typically commences in July or August and lasts until the first or second week of September. It is relatively shorter and focuses on legislative business, motions, and discussions on matters of urgent public importance.

The Winter Session, held in November and lasting until the third week of December, is devoted primarily to legislative business. With around 30 sittings, it provides additional opportunities for members to discuss motions and urgent public matters.

As an exception, during the 1957 and 1962 general elections, a session of the outgoing Lok Sabha was held along with the three sessions of the newly elected Lok Sabha. This session took place after the election results were announced but before the new Lok Sabha was officially formed. The members who were not re-elected were called “lame ducks,” and the session was named after them.

Parliamentary mandates and debates 

Article 85(1) of the Constitution mandates that the interval between two parliamentary sessions cannot exceed six months, ensuring that Parliament meets at least twice a year. This provision, like many others, is rooted in the Government of India Act, 1935.

Dr B R Ambedkar, while drafting this clause, noted, “The clause as it stands does not prevent the legislature from being summoned more often… my fear is, if I may say so, that the sessions of Parliament would be so frequent and so lengthy that the members of the legislature would probably themselves get tired of the sessions.”

During Constituent Assembly debates, members discussed three key aspects: the number of sessions per year, duration of sittings, and authority to convene Parliament. A member of the Constituent Assembly, Professor K T Shah of Bihar suggested that Parliament should function year-round with breaks in between, and cited examples of British and American legislatures, which met for over 100 days annually, advocating for longer parliamentary sittings. However, Dr Ambedkar did not accept these suggestions.

Over time, governments have adjusted session schedules to address political and legislative priorities. Despite this flexibility, the number of parliamentary sitting days has declined over the years.