Assembly polls may cut short budget session of Parliament

Parliament session is being curtailed in view of assembly elections in five states and the budget will be passed by March 25 and both the Houses adjourned.

A final decision on this will be taken by the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA), headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, tomorrow and later by the Business Advisory Committee of Parliament.

Mukherjee, who is also the leader of the House in the Lok Sabha, indicated that the reports of the standing committees on various demands for grant may not be taken into account while approving the budgetary demand for grant because of paucity of time.

A separate session will, however, be held in May after the assembly elections in Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Assam to transact legislative business.

It will then be followed by the normal monsoon session of Parliament.

A senior minister said demands have been made by several parties, including the Left, DMK, AIADMK and Trinamool Congress, to cut short the session so that they could devote full time for the polls.

As per the earlier plans, the first phase of the budget session was to end on March 16 and the second phase was to be held from April four to 21.

As per present indications, the budget session would be adjourned sine die on March 25 but not prorogued, thereby keeping it alive in the event of a decision to have a second phase.