Parliament budget session from Jan 31

Highlights

union BUDGET ON February 1

New Delhi: The budget session of Parliament will begin on January 31. The first part of the session is likely to conclude on February 13, and the second part of the session is likely to be held between the second week of March till the first week of April.

The session will begin with President Droupadi Murmu’s address to a joint session of Parliament on January 31. The budget will be presented on February 1.

The Election Commission has directed the Union Government not to have any Delhi-centric announcements in the budget in view of the Assembly polls scheduled for February 5. With Bihar polls scheduled for later this year, two allies -- Janata Dal (united) and Lok Jan Shakti Party (Ram Vilas) -- both will hope for crucial announcements for the state.

The Joint Committee on Parliament on Waqf (amendment) Bill 2024, is expected to present its report. The NDA allies - JD(U), TDP and LJP (RV) are not keen to push the bill through in Parliament. It remains to be seen if the panel will finalise its report and if the government will schedule the bill for this session.

The deadline for Joint Parliamentary Committee reviewing the Constitu-tion amendment bills aimed at introducing simultaneous elections, is al-so scheduled to present its report during the Budget session, though, panel’s members have contended that it is too short a time to deliberate on such significant legislation. The panel is likely to be given an exten-sion.

For the Opposition, the Delhi election results will be crucial and will set the mood for the session. The Congress has increasingly found itself iso-lated in the INDIA bloc, with several allies aligning themselves with AAP in the Delhi electoral battle.