India Polity Dissolution
Union Legislature Part 2 • Only the Lok Sabha is subject to dissolution. It
General Working of Indian Parliament
• Summoning: The President summons each
House of the Parliament from time to time.
But the maximum gap between two sessions
of Parliament cannot be more than six
months.
• Session: A ‘session’ of Parliament is the period
spanning between the first sitting of a House
and its prorogation (or dissolution in case of
Lok Sabha). During a session, the House meets
every day to transact business. There are
usually three sessions in a year namely:
1. The Budget Session
2. The Monsoon Session
3. The Winter Session
• The period spanning between the prorogation
of a House and its reassembly in a new
session is termed ‘recess’.
• The sitting of a House may be terminated by
dissolution, prorogation or adjournment.
• Adjournment: Within a session, there are a
number of meetings. Each daily meeting
consists of two sittings: a morning sitting (11
AM to 1 PM) and a post lunch sitting (2 PM to
6 PM). An adjournment suspends the work in
a sitting for a specified time – hours, days or
weeks.
• Adjournment Sine Die means terminating a
sitting of Parliament for an indefinite period.
• The power of adjournment as well as
adjournment sine die lies with the presiding
officer of the House.
• Prorogation: Prorogation (done by the
President) terminates the session of the
House. Though in England prorogation wipes
all business pending at the date of
prorogation, in India, all bills pending in
Parliament are expressly saved by Art. 107(3).
The only effect of a prorogation is that
pending notices, motions and resolutions
relapse.
ends the very life of the existing House. The
dissolution of Lok Sabha may take place in
two ways:
– Automatic dissolution on the expiry of
its tenure of five years or the terms as
extended during a national
emergency.
– By an exercise of the President’s
power under Article 85(2)
• The President on the advice of Council of
Ministers exercises the powers of dissolution
and prorogation.
• Whereas, the power to adjourn daily sittings
of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha belong to the
Speaker and Chairman respectively.
• Dissolution ends the very life of the Lok Sabha
so that all matters (Bills, Motions, Resolutions,
Notices, Petitions etc.) pending before the
House lapse with dissolution. If those matters
have to be pursued, they must be re-
introduced in the next House after fresh
elections.
• However, some pending bills and all pending
assurances that are to be examined by the
Committee on Government Assurances do not
lapse on the dissolution of the Lok Sabha.
Bill lapse conundrum
• The position with respect to lapsing of bills is
as follows:
– A bill pending in the Lok Sabha lapses
(whether originating in the Lok Sabha
or transmitted to it by the Rajya
Sabha)
– A bill passed by the Lok Sabha but
pending in the Rajya Sabha lapses.
– A bill pending in the Rajya Sabha not
passed by the Lok Sabha does not
lapse.
– A bill, which is not passed by the two
houses due to disagreement and if
the President has notified the holding
 of a joint sitting before the dissolution
of Lok Sabha, does not lapse.
– A bill passed by both Houses but
pending assent of the President does
not lapse.
– A bill passed by both Houses but
returned by the President for
reconsideration does not lapse
• Lame Duck Session: It refers to the last
session of the existing Lok Sabha after a new
Lok Sabha has been elected. Those members
of the existing Lok Sabha who could not get
re-elected to the new Lok Sabha are known as
lame ducks.
• Quorum: It is the minimum number of
members required to be present in the House
before it can transact any business. It is 1/10th
of the total number of members in each
House (including the Presiding Officer). Thus,
a minimum of 55 members in the Lok Sabha
and 25 members in the Rajya Sabha must be
present if any business is to be conducted.
What happens in parliament in a day
• 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Question hour
• 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM Zero hour
• 01:00 Pm to 02:00 PM Lunch break
• 02:00 PM to 05:00 PM/06:00 PM Government
business
Devices of Parliamentary Proceedings
• In a parliamentary sitting, both the houses of
the Indian Parliament have different devices
of Parliamentary proceedings.
• These devices are used to bring the members
of Parliament to act according to the rules of
the houses. They are
1. Question Hour
2. Zero Hour
3. Motions
4. Resolutions
5. Short duration discussions
6. Point of Order
Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business
• Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in
the Council of States/House of People have
been formulated under Article 118 of the
Constitution wherein each House of
Parliament is required to make rules for
regulating its procedure and conduct of
business.
• Speaker in Lok Sabha and Chairman in Rajya
Sabha are the final interpreters of provisions
of rules of procedure and conduct of
business.
• Rules committee considers the matters of
procedure and conduct of business in the
House and recommends necessary
amendments or additions to the Rules of the
House.
• The Lok Sabha committee consists of 15
members including the Speaker as its ex-
officio chairman. In Rajya Sabha, it consists
of 16 members including the Chairman as its
ex-officio chairman.
• The Speaker/ Chairman may, if he deems it
necessary, name a member who disregards
the authority of the Chair or abuses the rules
of the House by persistently and wilfully
obstructing the business thereof.
• If a member is so named by the Speaker/
Chairman, a motion is moved and adopted by
the House for suspending the member from
the service of the House for a period not
exceeding the remainder of the session. The
House may, however, by another motion
terminate the suspension. In an extreme case
of misconduct, the House may expel a
member from the House.
Question Hour
• Question Hour is the first hour of a
parliamentary sitting devoted to questions
that Members of Parliament raise about any
aspect of administration and government
activity.
• It is mentioned in the Rules of Procedure of
the House. Normally, a member has to give a
minimum of 15 clear days’ notice of a
question in writing addressed to the
 Secretary-General, Lok Sabha/Rajya Sabha,
intimating his intention to ask a question.
Besides the text of the question, the notice
states clearly:
– the official designation of the Minister
to whom the question is addressed.
– the date on which the question is
desired to be placed on the list of
questions for answer.
– the order of preference, if any, for its
being placed on the list of questions
when a member tables more than one
notice of questions for the same day.
• Questions are one of the ways Parliament can
hold the executive accountable and the
concerned Minister is obliged to answer to
the Parliament, either orally or in writing,
depending on the type of question raised.
• The maximum questions, starred or
unstarred, a member is now entitled to give is
10 per day.
Types of Questions
• These questions are of three kinds:
1. A Starred Question (distinguished by
an asterisk) requires an oral answer
and hence supplementary questions
can follow. Only 20 and 15 questions
can be listed for oral answer on a day
in LS and RS respectively. The list of
these questions is printed
in green colour.
2. An Unstarred Question requires a
Motions, Resolutions and Short Duration Discussions
written answer and hence,
supplementary questions cannot
follow. Only 230 and 160 questions
can be listed for written answer on a
day in LS and RS respectively. The list
of these questions is printed
in white colour.
3. A short notice question is one which
relates to a matter of urgent public
importance and is asked by giving a
notice of less than 10 days. It is
answered orally. The list of these
questions is printed in light
pink colour.
• Questions to Private Members- In addition to
the ministers, a question may also be
addressed to a Private Member, provided that
the subject matter of the question relates to
some Bill, Resolution or other matter
connected with the business of the House for
which that Member is responsible. The list of
these questions is printed in yellow colour.
Zero Hour
• The time immediately following the Question
Hour has come to be known as "Zero Hour".
• It starts at around 12 noon (hence the name)
and members can, with notice to the Speaker
prior to the start of the daily session, raise
issues of urgent public importance during this
time.
• It is an Indian innovation (not mentioned in
the Rules of Procedure) and has been in
existence since 1962.
• In Lok Sabha, maximum 20 matters are
allowed to be raised during the Zero Hour on
a single day.
• In Rajya Sabha, , maximum 7 matters are
allowed to be raised during the Zero Hour on
a single day.
• A member is allowed to make only one Zero
Hour request during a week.
• It is not mandatory to have a Zero Hour every
day during the session.
• Motions and resolutions are procedural
devices to raise a discussion in the House on a
matter of general public interest.
• In its widest sense, the term 'motion' means
any proposal submitted to the House for
eliciting its decision. The decision which has
thus been elicited, turns the motion into a
resolution or order of the House.
• By a motion, the House discusses a matter, by
a resolution the House declares its own
opinion.
• Motions and resolutions can be moved by
private members as well as Minister. When
they are moved by the former, they are called
private members' motions or resolutions.
• As the time for discussing motions is taken
from the time available for Government
Business, Government motions get
precedence over private members' motions,
on the same subject.
• When they are moved in pursuance of a
constitutional or statutory provisions, they are
called statutory motions or resolutions.
• The short duration discussion is a procedural
device to enable members to raise discussion
without a formal motion on a matter of
urgent public importance.
Motions
• In its widest sense, the term 'motion' means
any proposal submitted to the House for
eliciting its decision.
• Every matter is determined in the House by
means of a question put from the Chair on a
motion made by a member and the House
expresses its decisions or opinions on various
issues through the adoption or rejection of
motions. The decision which has thus been
elicited, turns the motion into a resolution or
order of the House.
• The motions are of three principal categories:
1. Substantive Motion: It is a self-
contained independent proposal
dealing with a very important matter
like impeachment of the President or
removal of Chief Election
Commissioner.
2. Substitute Motion: It is moved in
substitution of an original motion and
proposes an alternative to it. If
adopted by the House, it supersedes
the original motion.
3. Subsidiary Motion: It is a motion that,
by itself, has no meaning and cannot
state the decision of the House
without reference to the original
motion or proceedings of the House.
It is divided into three sub-categories:
a) Ancillary Motion: It is used as
the regular way of proceeding
with various kinds of business.
b) Superseding Motion: It is
moved in the course of
debate on another issue and
seeks to supersede that issue.
c) Amendment: It seeks to
modify or substitute only a
part of the original motion
General Rules for Parliamentary Motions
• As per Rules of Procedure and Conduct of
Business of the Houses: -
• No discussion on a matter of general public
importance can take place except on a motion
made with the consent of the
Speaker/Chairman as the case may be.
• Notice of a motion to discuss a matter of
general public interest is to be given in writing
addressed to the Secretary-General.
• No period of notice has been prescribed in
regard to such motions nor do they require
any seconder.
• But, in order that a motion may be admissible,
it should satisfy certain conditions. The
Chairman/Speaker decides on the motions'
admissibility based on the parameters.
• It is the Business Advisory Committee which
selects the motion(s) for discussion in the
House according to the urgency and
importance of the subject and allots time for
the same.
• The Chairman/Speaker sets aside time for
debate of the motion's subject and speeches
on the motion may be limited.
• The Chairman/Speaker may ask all questions
necessary to ascertain the House's decision on
the original question on the given day.
Significance of Motions in Parliament
• Motions bring new business before the
Houses of the Parliament. These instruments
 are used regularly to raise issues in the Privilege Motion
parliament and bring the stand of the
• It is concerned with the breach of
government to the notice of the public.
parliamentary privileges by a Minister.
• The Parliament’s attention can be drawn to
• It is moved be a member when he feels that a
issues which are really important and need to
minister has committed breach of privilege of
be looked into. This is the purpose of calling
the House or one or more of its members by
attention and adjournment motion.
withholding facts of a case or by giving wrong
• The House can bring the government down or distorted facts.
through No-confidence motions and cut
Calling Attention Motion
motions.
• It is introduced by a member to call the
• The Privilege motion tries to ensure that there
attention of a Minister to a matter of urgent
is transparency and accountability regarding
public importance and to seek an
the information presented in front of the
authoritative statement from him on that
house.
matter.
• The time of the house is utilized in an efficient
• Like the zero hour, it is also an Indian
manner through devices like the closure
innovation in the parliamentary procedure
motion.
and has been in existence since 1954.
Closure Motion However, unlike the zero hour, it is mentioned
in the Rules of Procedure
• It is a motion moved by a member to cut short
the debate on a matter before the House. If Adjournment Motion
the House approves it, debate is stopped and
• Adjournment Motion is the procedure for
the matter is put to vote. There are four kinds
adjournment of the business of the house for
of closure motions:
the purpose of discussing a matter of urgent
– Simple Closure: It is one when a public importance, and needs the support of
member moves that the ‘matter 50 members to be admitted.
having been sufficiently discussed be
• The Adjournment Motion, if admitted, leads
now put to vote’.
to setting aside of the normal business of the
– Closure by Compartments: In this House for discussing the matter mentioned in
case, the clauses of a bill or a lengthy the Motion. The discussion on an
resolution are grouped into parts adjournment motion should last for not less
before the commencement of the than two hours and thirty minutes.
debate. The debate covers the part as
• The purpose of an Adjournment Motion is to
a whole and the entire part is put to
take the Government to task for a recent act
vote.
of omission or commission having serious
– Kangaroo Closure: Under this type, consequences.
only important clauses are taken up
• Its adoption is regarded as a sort of censure of
for debate and voting and the
the Government. Thus, Rajya Sabha is not
intervening clauses are skipped over
permitted to make use of this device.
and taken as passed.
• The right to move a motion for an
– Guillotine Closure: It is one when the
adjournment of the business of the House is
undiscussed clauses of a bill or a
subject to the following restrictions.
resolution are also put to vote along
with the discussed ones due to want – It should raise a matter which is
of time (as the time allotted for the definite, factual, urgent and of public
discussion is over) importance;
 – It should not cover more than one
matter;
– It should be restricted to a specific
matter of recent occurrence and
should not be framed in general
terms;
– It should not raise a question of
privilege;
– It should not revive discussion on a
matter that has been discussed in the
same session;
– It should not deal with any matter
that is under adjudication by the
court; and
– It should not raise any question that
can be raised on a distinct motion.
No-Confidence Motion
• In India, a Motion of No Confidence can be
introduced only in the Lok Sabha.
• The motion is allowed for discussion when a
minimum of 50 members of the Lok Sabha
support the motion.
• If the motion carries, the Lok Sabha debates
and votes on the motion.
• If majority of the members of the Lok Sabha
vote in favour of the motion, the motion is
passed and the Government is bound to
vacate the office in accordance with Article
75(3) of the Constitution, which says that the
council of ministers shall be collectively
responsible to the Lok Sabha.
Censure Motion
• This motion can be moved only in the Lok
Sabha by the Opposition of the House.
• It can be moved against the Council of
Ministers or an individual Minister or a group
of Ministers for their failure to act or for
certain policies and actions and may express
regret, indignation or surprise of the House at
the failure of the Minister or Ministers.
• The Motion should be specific and self-
explanatory so as to record the reasons for
the censure, precisely and briefly (No-
Confidence motion does not need to state
such reasons).
• If the Censure Motion is passed, the Council
of Ministers need not resign from office but is
bound to seek the confidence of the Lok
Sabha as early as possible.
Motion of Thanks
• According to Article 87, the first session after
each general election and the first session of
every fiscal year is addressed by the
President. In this address, the president
outlines the policies and programmes of the
government in the preceding year and
ensuing year.
• This address of the president, which
corresponds to the ‘speech from the Throne
in Britain’, is discussed in both the Houses of
Parliament on a motion called the ‘Motion of
Thanks’.
• At the end of the discussion, the motion is put
to vote. This motion must be passed in the
House. Otherwise, it amounts to the defeat of
the government.
Resolutions
• A resolution is one of the procedural devices
to raise a discussion in the House on a matter
of general public interest.
• A resolution can be moved by a member or
Minister on a matter of general public
interest.
• While there is no fixed day allotted for moving
a resolution by a Minister, a private member
can move a resolution only on an allotted day.
Ordinarily, two and a half hours of a sitting on
alternate Fridays are allotted for the
discussion of private members' resolutions.
• A member who wishes to move a resolution
has to give a notice to that effect two days
before the date of draw of lot.
• The admissibility of a resolution is subject to
certain conditions:
• The Business Advisory Committee is
empowered to allot time for the
consideration of a resolution.
 • Resolutions are classified into three Point of Order
categories:
• A Point of Order relates to the interpretation
i. Private Member’s Resolution: It is or enforcement of the Rules of Procedure or
moved by a private member and is such articles of the Constitution that regulate
discussed only on alternate Fridays the business of the House.
and in the afternoon sitting.
• It should raise a question that is within the
ii. Government Resolution: It is moved cognizance of the presiding officer.
by a minister and can be taken up any
• A member can raise a point of order when the
day from Monday to Thursday.
proceedings of the House do not follow the
iii. Statutory Resolution: It can be moved normal rules of procedure.
by a private member or a minister. It
• It is an extraordinary device as it suspends the
is so called as it is always tabled in
proceedings before the House. No debate is
pursuance of a provision in the
allowed on a Point of Order.
constitution or an act of the
Parliament.

Differences between Motions and Resolutions

• While all resolutions are substantive motions.

• All motions are not necessarily put to vote of

the House, whereas all resolutions are
required to be voted upon.

Short Duration Discussion

• One of the important parliamentary devices

available to members to draw the attention of
the Government to matters of urgent public
importance is to raise a discussion of short
duration without a formal motion or vote
thereon.

• Notice to raise a short duration discussion is

to be given in writing, addressed to the
Secretary-General, specifying clearly and
precisely the matter to be raised.

• The notice is required to be accompanied by

an explanatory note stating reasons for raising
the discussion and supported by signatures of
at least two other members.

• The Chairman decides the admissibility of the

notice. If an early opportunity is otherwise
available for discussion of the matter, the
Chairman may refuse to admit the notice

• The Business Advisory Committee normally

selects the subject for discussion and also
allocates the time therefor. The Chairman
may allow such time not exceeding two and a
half hours for holding such discussion.