The government has announced a 15-day Winter Session of Parliament, scheduled from December 1 to 19. Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju made the announcement on Friday, immediately attracting opposition criticism for being unusually short and delayed. The previous year's Winter Session lasted from November 25 to December 20. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the message being sent, suggesting the government has no significant business, bills, or debates planned. Trinamool Congress MP Derek O'Brien accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi's administration of suffering from what he termed Parliament-ophobia. This session will be the fourth shortest since Modi took office in 2014, with only three previous sessions being shorter. All three were also Winter Sessions, including those in 2017 (13 days), 2022 (13 days), and 2023 (14 days), the latter marked by mass suspensions of opposition lawmakers.
Declining Session Lengths Since 2014
Since Modi's government began in 2014, the average session length has been 22 working days, but overall durations have declined. The longest session was the 37-day Budget Session following the 2019 Lok Sabha election victory. The 35-day Budget Session of 2015 was the second longest. Eleven sessions have exceeded the 22-day average, while another eleven lasted under 20 days. Only nine sessions ran for the exact planned duration, with 22 ending early. Just three sessions exceeded their scheduled time: the 2015 Budget Session added two extra days, while the 2024 pre-poll Budget Session and 2024 Winter Session each ran one day longer. The shortest sessions included those affected by Covid and special circumstances.
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