Can the Centre keep agenda of special Parliament session a secret?

The Centre and the Opposition INDIA bloc are at odds over the government keeping the agenda of the upcoming special Parliament session under wraps. A war of words broke out between the Congress and the Central government on Wednesday (6 September) after Grand Old Party leader Sonia Gandhi shot off a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the special session.As Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi claimed that “consultations with other political parties are never done before calling a session”, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh hit back, alleging that he was “misleading” people.The Centre earlier announced a special session of Parliament from 18-22 September. Without specifying any agenda, it said there would be five sittings. There will be no Question Hour, Zero Hour and private member business during this session, reported Deccan Herald (DH).Let’s take a closer look at what's going on.But first, what is a special session?The Central government can convene any session of Parliament. After the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs decides about holding a session, the President can call upon the MPs regarding the same.

Generally, there are three sessions of Parliament in a year – Budget Session, Monsoon Session and Winter Session.

Article 85 of the Constitution pertains to the summoning of Parliamentary sessions. As per DH, there is no mention of a ‘special session’ in India’s Constitution. Like regular sessions, the President can summon a special session of Parliament under provisions of Article 85(1) of the Constitution.Article 85(1) says: “The President shall from time to time summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as he/she thinks fit, but six months shall not intervene between its last sitting in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session.”The article also empowers the President to summon Parliament whenever required.When special sessions were heldAccording to the DH report, in February 1977, a two-day special session of Rajya Sabha was convened to extend the President’s Rule in Tamil Nadu and Nagaland. Another two-day session was held in 1991 to implement the President’s rule in Haryana.In 2008, a special Parliamentary session was summoned for a trust vote after the Left parties withdrew support from the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government.Many special midnight sessions have been convened to mark milestones such as the 50th anniversary of India’s Independence, the 50th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, the 25th anniversary of Independence and so on.The Narendra Modi-led government held its first special session in 2017 when it called a joint midnight sitting of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha to roll out Goods and Services Tax (GST). According to Indian Express, this was the first time a legislative Act was discussed in a special midnight session.ALSO READ: Is Centre likely to introduce ‘One Nation, One Poll’ bill in special session of Parliament?What did Sonia Gandhi say?In her letter to Modi, Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi highlighted that the Opposition parties have not been apprised of the agenda of the upcoming special Parliament session.“I must point out that this special session has been convened without any consultation with other political parties. None of us have any idea of its agenda. All we have been communicated is that all five days have been allocated for government business,” she said in the letter.[caption id="attachment_13088552" align="alignnone" width="640"]

Congress' Sonia Gandhi wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi over the upcoming special Parliament session. PTI File Photo[/caption]The former Congress chief also listed nine issues that the Opposition wants to discuss during the five-day session. These include the ongoing violence in Manipur, price rise, unemployment, caste census, a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani Group amid fresh allegations, the border row with China, growing cases of communal tension and damage caused by flood in some states and drought in others, reported The Hindu.Centre vs CongressResponding to Gandhi’s letter, Union minister Pralhad Joshi said she was trying to politicise the work of Parliament.“It is very unfortunate that you are trying to politicise the functioning of Parliament, our temple of democracy, and create unnecessary controversy,” Indian Express quoted Joshi as saying.He pointed out that the Constitution only mentions that the gap between two sessions should not be more than six months. The minister added that all rules and regulations were followed for calling the special session.“This government and several governments of the Opposition parties, in the past, are aware of the procedures by which the list of businesses is announced. No agenda can be declared in advance as per the Parliamentary procedure…We will make public what is going to happen during the five days of the session at an appropriate time,” he said in his letter to Gandhi, as per News18.Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Joshi wrote, “Yet another desperate attempt by Sonia Gandhi and the Congress Party to create an issue out of nothing. The government has convened the session as per the provisions of the Constitution and the due procedure has been followed”.Congress’ communications in-charge Ramesh attacked Joshi on X, saying the agenda of special sessions is known beforehand.

“How much will you mislead Joshi-avare? On each and every occasion of a Special Session/Sitting, the agenda was well known in advance. It is only the Modi government that routinely disrespects Parliament and distorts Parliamentary conventions. Past governments, including yours, have called many Special Sittings to commemorate the Constitution Day, Quit India Movement and other such occasions,” he wrote.Ramesh also underlined the past instances when special Parliamentary sessions were held.Many INDIA grouping leaders have also targeted the Centre for not sharing the agenda of the special session. As per The Telegraph, Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’Brien said he had two questions: “Where is the agenda for the session? Why is it being kept a secret? This is not how a Parliamentary democracy functions.”With inputs from agencies