New Delhi, July 6:
The Monsoon session of Parliament will be held from July 20 to August 13 amid dramatically altered political equations after the recent assembly elections.
The 25-day session with 19 sittings comes as cracks in the opposition ranks seem to be widening, with beleaguered Trinamool Congress (TMC) and Shiv Sena (UBT) facing rebellion and the Congress parting ways with the DMK to join hands with the TVK to form a government in Tamil Nadu.
The BJP’s victories in West Bengal, Assam and Puducherry assembly polls have given a fresh boost to the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after the last session ended in disappointment as a Constitution amendment bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of seats in the Lok Sabha was defeated in the Lower House.
The government is now redrafting the bill to possibly increase Lok Sabha seats of all states uniformly by 50 per cent. The population-linked increase in seats has been a major concern for southern parties.
The aftermath of the rebellion in TMC and Shiv Sena (UBT) will also play out in the forthcoming session. A decision by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla on the demands of 20 TMC and six Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs seeking recognition as separate groups is awaited.In the Rajya Sabha, after newly elected and re-elected MPs took oath, the political numbers further tilted in favour of the ruling NDA.Three rebel TMC MPs from the Upper House have quit and bypolls will help the BJP gather more strength in the Rajya Sabha.