Budget session ends, Parliament adjourns sine die

Parliament was adjourned sine die on Friday, marking the end of the Budget session, with both Houses witnessing uproarious scenes and protests over Congress leader Sonia Gandhi’s “Waqf Amendment Bill bulldozed in the Lok Sabha” remark.

After repeated adjournments, both Houses were adjourned sine die without conducting any business, with Speaker Om Birla expressing disappointment over Sonia’s remarks.

Meanwhile, the Budget session, which had begun on January 31, saw the passage of the Union Budget, the controversial Waqf Amendment Bill and the Immigration and Foreigners Bill.

In all, 16 Bills were passed in the Lok Sabha, while the Rajya Sabha passed and returned 14 Bills. Together, both Houses cleared 16 Bills during the Budget session.

The discussion on the Waqf Amendment Bill saw discussions in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha for 14 hours each, amid acrimonious scenes and protests, finally leading to the passage of the legislation by close margins.

While the Lok Sabha passed the Bill by a margin of 288-232, in the Rajya Sabha, it was passed by a 128-95 margin.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, during a press conference today, defended the decision of the government to hold a discussion on the proclamation of President’s rule in Manipur past midnight in both Houses.

Asked why the government pushed for the discussion on the important proclamation well into the wee hours of April 2 and April 3 in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha respectively, Rijiju said the Opposition parties had been taken on board and it was decided in the Business Advisory Committee of the two Houses that the debate would not be pushed to the weekend.

“Rules mandate that President’s rule has to be approved by Parliament within two-months of the proclamation. So, it was necessary to clear it in the ongoing Parliament session. We had consulted the Opposition parties, which insisted that it should not be taken up during the weekend. We had also considered holding the House on Saturday to make up for the Holi holiday, but there was no consensus on this,” Rijiju told reporters.

Meanwhile, he said the first part of the Budget session, held between January 31 and February 13, yielded a total of nine sittings of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. In the second part of the session, there were 17 sittings of both Houses between March 10 and April 4.

The total productivity of the Lok Sabha during the Budget session was 118 per cent and that of Rajya Sabha was around 119 per cent.

India