Special Parliament session begins, proceedings in new building from Tuesday

A five-day special session of Parliament began at 11 am on Monday with an address by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. From Tuesday, the session will be held in the new Parliament building, reported PTI.

The Centre plans to introduce eight bills in the session but there have been speculation that the Centre could take up matters that are not mentioned in the agenda for the five-day sitting. On Monday, a discussion will be held on Parliament’s 75-year journey.

The government had announced the special sitting on August 31, but did not specify the agenda. The legislative business was made public last week, but with the caveat that the list was not exhaustive.

One of the bills mentioned in the legislative business aimed to constitute a selection committee for the appointment of the election commissioners. However, news reports on Monday said that the bill had been taken off the agenda.

Opposition parties had objected to the bill that proposed setting up a panel consisting of the prime minister, the leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha and a Union cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.

This would have done away with the arrangement put in place by the Supreme Court in March to form a selection committee consisting of the prime minister, the leader of Opposition...

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