The Monsoon session of Parliament begins on July 20 which is likely to see opposition attack on the government on a variety of issues, including NEET paper leak, death of Indian sailors in West Asia conflict and mixing of ethanol in petrol.
The opposition will also raise the issue of alleged embezzlement of donations at the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A weakened opposition following assembly poll results in West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, and differences between the Congress and the DMK over the formation of government by the TVK in Tamil Nadu will embolden the ruling alliance in Parliament during the session.
A joint committee of Parliament is likely to adopt a report on a Constitution amendment bill which seeks to remove the prime minister, Union ministers and chief ministers from office for being in detention for 30 consecutive days on serious charges. The government could bring official amendments based on the recommendations of the panel.
It will be a test of numbers for the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) since a Constitution amendment requires the support of two-thirds of the members present and voting.
A similar Constitution bill to grant 33 per cent reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies fell in the Lower House in the previous session of Parliament as the government could not muster the required numbers.In the upcoming session, the government may also bring an amended women’s reservation bill along with a delimitation bill to seek its passage in Parliament.
The government is learnt to be working on multiple formulations to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats for all states by 50 per cent to assuage the concerns of southern states, as it seeks to operationalise a fresh draft of the Constitution amendment bill on women’s quota law.
The draft is being readied keeping in mind the concerns of the southern states that a population-based delimitation exercise would shrink their political power in the Lok Sabha.
