New Delhi [India], March 6 : Both the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress on Friday issued a 'three-line whip' to their Lok Sabha MPs to mark their presence in the House from March 9 to 11, during the second phase of the Budget Session.
The second phase of the Budget session starts on March 9, and it is scheduled to go up to April 2, during which essential legislative and other business is expected to be addressed primarily.
The first part of the Budget session concluded on February 13, marked by political debates over the India-US interim trade deal and the memoir of former Army Chief MM Naravane, whose publishing status remained a matter of controversy even outside the Parliament.
The Parliament budget session, which began on January 28 with the President's address to a joint sitting of the two Houses, comprises 30 sittings over 65 days and is scheduled to conclude on April 2. The recess will allow Standing Committees to examine the Demands for Grants of various ministries and departments.
The first part of the session was devoted primarily to the Budget for 2026-27 and to a discussion of the Motion of Thanks on the President's Address.
The INDIA bloc discussed replacing MGNREGA with the Viksit Bharat-Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Act, and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll by the start of the session.
During President Droupadi Murmu's address to both Houses of the Parliament, opposition parties continued to stage a protest in a "dignified" manner against the scrapping of the MGNREGA.
On February 1, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026-27 in Lok Sabha. She rose to her ninth consecutive Budget.
The Finance Minister also laid two statements before the House under Section 3(1) of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003. These include the Medium-term Fiscal Policy-cum-Fiscal Policy Strategy Statement and the Macro-Economic Framework Statement.
On February 2, during the motion of thanks on the President's Address, Lok Sabha witnessed sharp verbal exchanges after the Leader of the Opposition in the Lower House sought to quote a magazine article containing excerpts from Naravane's unpublished memoir.
The ruling benches objected to Gandhi's attempt to cite excerpts from the unpublished memoir of former Army Chief General Naravane. National Democratic Alliance (NDA) MPs objected, arguing that the memoir had not been published and could not be quoted in the House.
Further, eight opposition members were suspended from the Lok Sabha for the remainder of the session for violating rules and "throwing papers on the chair" following an uproar in the House over Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's insistence on making a specific reference to the 2020 standoff with China in eastern Ladakh.
Even after proceedings were repeatedly disrupted by sloganeering from Opposition members, the Lok Sabha on February 5 passed the Motion of Thanks to the President's address without the customary reply by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Amid the drama and an unprecedented incident, replying to the motion of thanks on the President's Address in the Rajya Sabha, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the world is rapidly moving toward a new global order.
After all the drama, the Congress party later submitted a no-confidence motion notice against the Lok Sabha Speaker.
In response, Speaker Om Birla decided on moral grounds that he will not attend the proceedings of the House till the disposal of the no-confidence motion notice against him.
Additionally, the Rajya Sabha was also adjourned on February 13th and is scheduled to meet again on March 9 after a three-week recess.
Meanwhile, the polling for the upcoming biennial elections to the Council of States (Rajya Sabha) to fill the 37 seats across 10 states is scheduled to take place on March 16, with the counting of votes on the same day at 5 pm. The last date for nominations was on Thursday, followed by scrutiny today. The candidates can withdraw their nominations till March 9.