Parliament’s Monsoon Session Likely To Go Virtual; No Capacity To Make Seating Arrangements With Social Distancing

It seems unlikely that a regular monsoon session of the parliament will be conducted as an assessment report by senior officials raised concerns over the capacity of various chambers at the parliament house to accommodate all the MPs while also maintaining social distancing.

The report submitted on Tuesday 9 (June) said the Lok Sabha chamber, Central Hall as well as Vigyan Bhawan do not have the capacity to hold the session in full strength of the houses.

According to a Times of India report, the officials who conducted the assessment on the capacity of the chambers told the presiding officers that the Lok Sabha chamber can only have 60 MPs with social distancing norms, whereas the Central Hall, the largest chamber, will also only be able to accommodate a little more than 100 members.

However, the strength of the lower house and the upper house is 543 and 245, respectively.

Following the submission of the report and the possibility of the regular seating session being ruled out for the Monsoon session in July, Rajya Sabha Chairperson M Venkaiah Naidu and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla held discussions with officials to discuss the chances and readiness of a virtual session.

Possibility of a semi-virtual session was also discussed where some members can take part from their respective locations, while some attend the session in person.