Revamp functioning of Parliament

Why in the News

The Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill and the Delimitation Bill, 2026, introduced together, would raise the Lok Sabha’s strength from 550 to 850 members. The plan tackles the size of constituencies but not Parliament’s working capacity, so more members would share the same limited floor time, the hours the House sits to debate.

Why does an MP need floor time, not just a seat?

1. Two layers of representation: Voters need access to their Member of Parliament (MP), and the MP needs floor time to speak for them. More MPs without more time is like more students in an unchanged class period.
2. Why delimitation is proposed: Delimitation redraws constituencies. India’s 97.98 crore voters give each Lok Sabha seat roughly 18 lakh voters, a heavy load for one MP.
3. Uneven constituencies: Malkajgiri in Telangana has 37.8 lakh voters. Lakshadweep has just 57,953.
4. The takeaway: More seats without more floor time would leave representatives “muted on the floor”.

How would a larger House squeeze Question Hour?

1. Question Hour: Question Hour is the sitting time when MPs question Ministers. Lok Sabha rules allow at most 20 starred questions (answered orally) and 230 unstarred questions (answered in writing) per sitting day.
2. Daily ballot: Each MP can submit up to five questions a day, but a ballot picks only a tiny fraction for answer.
3. Lower odds at 850: With more MPs and unchanged sitting hours, an MP’s chance of an oral answer from a Minister falls further.
4. 17th Lok Sabha record: Question Hour functioned for only 60% of its scheduled time.
5. Monsoon Session 2026: Question Hour ran for only 1% of scheduled time, nine minutes in all. More members cannot improve executive-legislative accountability, Ministers answering to Parliament, if the hour does not run.

Which other floor tools would lose time?

1. Zero Hour: MPs use it to raise urgent issues without advance notice. Eg. Regional crop failures or disaster relief.
2. Private Members’ Business: It lets MPs who are not Ministers bring in their own Bills.
3. Unprotected instruments: With more MPs sharing the same slots, these tools lose their purpose unless rules protect the time to use them.

Why is sitting time not guaranteed today?

1. Article 85(1): The President summons each House at such time and place as he thinks fit. Six months must not pass between one session’s last sitting and the next session’s first.
2. No minimum days: The Article caps the gap between sessions but fixes no minimum number of sitting days, so the government of the day sets the calendar.
3. Speaker’s discretion: The time for Question Hour and Zero Hour can be changed at the direction of the Speaker.
4. NCRWC benchmark: The National Commission to Review the Working of the Constitution (NCRWC) recommended that the Lok Sabha meet for at least 120 days a year.

Challenges

1. Disruptions: Over a quarter of available time is lost to disruptions, and Question Hour is usually the first casualty.
2. Executive-set calendar: The government decides when Parliament meets, so sessions can be cut short at will.
3. Hasty law-making: In the 17th Lok Sabha, 35% of Bills passed with less than an hour of discussion.
4. Weak committee scrutiny: Only 17% of Bills in the 17th Lok Sabha went to Department Related Standing Committees, the subject-wise panels that examine Bills, so lost floor time is not made up elsewhere.

Way Forward

1. Statutory sitting time: Parliament should give its sitting time statutory status through a law.
2. Minimum days clause: Amend Article 85(1) to add a mandatory minimum number of working days, on the NCRWC benchmark.
3. Protected question time: Fix a mandatory time for Question Hour and Zero Hour that the Speaker cannot alter.
4. Opposition days: Let the Business Advisory Committee fix the calendar, with a quota of days for Opposition business.

Conclusion

Enlarging the Lok Sabha answers the problem of constituency size but leaves the problem of floor time untouched. Whether the delimitation Bills are paired with a guaranteed sitting calendar and protected Question Hour will decide if more MPs means more representation.

Functioning of Parliament in India

1. Sitting days: The 17th Lok Sabha averaged only 55 sitting days a year, against 127 in the 1950s.
2. Legislative output: The 17th Lok Sabha held 274 sittings and passed 179 Bills, excluding Finance and Appropriation Bills.
3. Private Members’ Bills: 729 were introduced in the 17th Lok Sabha, the second highest ever, but only two were discussed.
4. Budget scrutiny: About 80% of the Budget was voted without discussion between 2019 and 2023.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2017] The Parliament of India exercises control over the functions of the Council of Ministers through 1. Adjournment motion 2. Question hour 3. Supplementary questions Select the correct answer using the code given below: (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3 ANSWER: (d)”