After Speaker action on TMC rebels, buzz grows on special House session

NEW DELHI: The delay in proroguing Parliament, 25 days after the Monsoon Session was adjourned sine die, has kept alive speculation that the government could reconvene the Houses by the last week of September for another attempt to pass the legislation on delimitation and women’s reservation.

The speculation has gained ground after Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla granted time till September 22 to the 20 MPs of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), following petitions filed by the Mamata-Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) seeking their disqualification under the anti-defection law.

The extension leaves open the possibility of a decision on their status. Birla had served the notices after the Supreme Court on August 25 agreed to hear Abhishek Banerjee’s plea on the disqualifications.

The 20 MPs, who broke away from the TMC and joined the NCPI, could prove crucial to the government’s calculations if the constitutional amendment Bill is brought back before the Lok Sabha.

The buzz intensified last week after Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said in an interview that Parliament could convene a special session for delimitation-related proposals.

Following this, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the proposed delimitation exercise and called for the Lok Sabha’s existing strength to be retained for another 25 years. The Congress also flagged it as the reason for the continued delay in proroguing the Monsoon session.

The buzz intensified last week after Union minister Kiren Rijiju said in an interview that Parliament could convene a special session for delimitation-related proposals. Following this, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.