Parliament Functioning in Budget Session 2026

Most legislative activity in last two weeks of sessions in Lok Sabha

Note: This excludes Appropriation and Finance Bills.  BS-Budget Session, MS-Monsoon Session, WS-Winter Session.  Week 8 of the latest session (BS’26) discussed three Bills for over 21 hours over two days but one Bill was voted down and two became infructuous.

• The session was extended by three days to introduce and pass three Bills—the Constitution (131^st Amendment) Bill, the Delimitation Bill, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill.  These sought to increase the size of Lok Sabha, enable delimitation based on the 2011 census, and enable reservation for women based on this delimitation.  

• These Bills were introduced and discussed immediately with the discussion lasting 21 hours and 28 minutes over two days.  The Constitution 131^st Amendment Bill was voted down with 298 members voting for and 230 against.  This rendered the other two related Bills infructuous, and they were not taken up.

• In this session, two Bills that were passed within a week of introduction included one reserving certain senior positions in CAPFs for IPS officers and another amending 80 Acts to decriminalise certain offences. 

• Only one of the Bills passed this session, the IBC (Amendment) Bill, 2025, has been examined by a parliamentary committee.  One Bill, the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which amends existing corporate laws to decriminalise certain offences, was referred to a committee.

Lok Sabha functioned for 86% of its scheduled time, Rajya Sabha for 92%

• On nine days, Lok Sabha functioned for less than 20% of its scheduled time.

• The session began with the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address, which Lok Sabha discussed for about three hours, while Rajya Sabha discussed for 17 hours.  In addition, Lok Sabha held a short-duration discussion on left-wing extremism, which lasted six hours.

• Lok Sabha functioned for over 14 hours on April 16, 2026, during which the three delimitation Bills were discussed. 

Number of sittings recorded during Budget Sessions have declined

Note: This does not include interim Budget Sessions.

Opposition moved a resolution to remove the Speaker in Lok Sabha; Deputy Chairman re-elected in Rajya Sabha

No Deputy Speaker for entire term

• Opposition MPs moved a resolution to remove the Speaker in Lok Sabha.  The resolution failed after over 12 hours of discussion over two days. 
• Resolutions to remove a Lok Sabha Speaker were previously moved in 1954, 1966, and 1987; however, no Speaker has ever been removed from office.
• During such proceedings, the Speaker does not preside over the House.  In his absence, the Deputy Speaker presides; but as the office of Deputy Speaker is vacant currently, senior members presided over the proceedings.  The Constitution mandates Lok Sabha to elect a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker as soon as possible but a Deputy Speaker has not been elected in seven years.  Meanwhile, Rajya Sabha re-elected the Deputy Chairman for his third consecutive term. 

The Union Budget was discussed for ten days in Lok Sabha

Note: The graph above shows the percentage of the voted expenditure discussed by value.

• Lok Sabha spent about 35 hours discussing the Union Budget and the expenditure of two ministries.

• Budgets of five ministries — Railways, Agriculture, Home Affairs, External Affairs, and Power — were listed for discussion.  However, budgets of only the Agriculture and Railways Ministries were discussed.

• 77% of the budget was guillotined i.e. it was passed without any discussion in the House.

On 12 days, less than 15 minutes were spent on Question Hour in Lok Sabha

No Private Members’ Business was conducted in Lok Sabha

• Three days were allocated for Private Members’ Business during this session.  Rajya Sabha conducted Private Members’ Business on two days, Lok Sabha did not take up any such business.

• Fifty Private Members’ Bills were introduced in Rajya Sabha.  No Private Members’ Resolutions were taken up in either House.

Sources: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha Lists of Business, Bulletins; Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, Statistical Statement 2025, Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs; Reports of the Business Advisory Committee; PRS.