Lok Sabha Speaker convenes all-party meet on January 30

Ahead of the Budget session of Parliament, Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan has convened an all-party meeting on January 30 evening to ensure smooth conduct of proceedings and to know the various issues the political parties seek to raise during the session.

Sources in the Lok Sabha Secretariat said the meeting has been called on January 30 evening, a day before President Pranab Mukherjee addresses a joint sitting of the two Houses in the Central Hall of Parliament.

The Union Budget is slated to be presented on February 1 and the Economic Survey may also be tabled the same day.

The first half of the session will be a short affair and will end on February 9 as it is being held in the middle of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.

A shorter first part will help parties focus on electioneering. The second half of the session will begin on March 9 and will conclude on April 12.

Sixteen Opposition parties had this month moved the Election Commission urging it to ask the government to present the Union Budget after the elections are over on March 8 so that it is not used as a tool by the NDA to influence voters in the five states.

While the Supreme Court today refused to give any directions to the government in this regard, the Commission's decision is long awaited.