Discussion on Bihar SIR unlikely in Parliament’s monsoon session

Even after the all-party meeting held on Sunday, 20 July, a day before the monsoon session of Parliament begins, it appeared unlikely that there will be any discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar by the Election Commission Of India (ECI) in rather unseemly haste.

The government has left the issue unresolved and may resist the INDIA bloc’s attempt to hold a special discussion on the plea that the issue is pending before the Supreme Court of India. The apex court is due to hear the case on 28 July while the Special Intensive Revision is concluding on 25 July. The government may argue that a discussion can be held in August after the Supreme Court’s decision in the case.

There is already a buzz around the session, which was earlier scheduled to end before the Independence Day but has now been extended by a week till 21 August. The government, prone to shock and awe, is said to be getting ready to make some grand announcement to divert the nation’s attention or to give one more push for its campaign to win the assembly election in Bihar due by November.

However, the government has agreed to a debate on Operation Sindoor and its aftermath, including the US president Donald Trump’s repeated assertion that he had brokered the ceasefire between Indian and Pakistan after ‘five jets were downed’ and the neighbours were on the brink of a nuclear war.

The government had earlier rejected the opposition’s demand for a special session of parliament after the Pahalgam terror attack on 22 April, 2025 and had said that the issue could be discussed in the monsoon session of parliament. So, there was little wiggle room left for the government to wriggle out of a discussion.

This is going to be the first session since the Pahalgam attack, in which 25 tourists and a local ponywallah were killed. Subsequently, Operation Sindoor was conducted by the Indian armed forces in Pakistan against terror emanating from that country. The operation has been ‘paused’, not ended, by the prime minister.

While the opposition is getting ready to ask sharp questions on the failure of the government to apprehend the Pahalgam terrorists, its silence on the losses of aircrafts and ceasefire, there are apprehensions. Will there be a sensible, and responsible, discussion on the subject in parliament? Or will it again see disruptions, expulsions, exchange of political rhetoric and acrimony? Differences have already surfaced between the government and the opposition, with the opposition insisting to take it up as the first business of the session and the government seemingly determined to resist it.

There are also doubts whether prime minister Modi will be present during the debate and reply to it. The PM had not bothered to attend the all-party briefing on the Pahalgam attack—instead opting to visit Bihar, where he threatened to drag out the terrorists from the bowels of the earth, if necessary. Several observers believe he had alerted Pakistan thereby to a Balakot-kind of attack. His much photographed briefing sessions with the top brass of the military, indicating that the PM was personally supervising the details of a military operation—also contributed to the impending action by India.

However, since his broadcast to the nation hours after ‘Operation Sindoor’ was launched, the PM has been quiet and has not spoken on President’s Trump’s claim, repeated 23 times according to one count, that he had brokered the ceasefire. India has never explained why it agreed to the ceasefire when it claims it had its arch enemy on the mat.

It was certainly claimed that the PM had a half-an-hour-long telephone talk with President Trump from Canada where he had gone as a last-minute invitee to the G-7 summit. But while in his remarkable briefing to the media in Hindi, foreign secretary Vikram Misri claimed that the PM had told Trump that he and the US had played no role in ushering the ceasefire, it did not deter the US president from making the claim.

The four other new Bills are the Manipur Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Bill, the Indian Institute of Management (Amendment) Bill and the Taxation Laws (Amendment) Bill.

The government is due to present the Income Tax Bill, 2025 during the Monsoon Session. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in February and was referred to a Select Committee of the Lower House. The panel adopted its report on Wednesday (16 July) and is likely to present it in the Lok Sabha on Monday, 21 July. The government is also set to seek Parliament's nod for an extension of the President's Rule in Manipur and place the Demand for Grants of the state for the approval of the House. The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill, 2024, the Merchant Shipping Bill, 2024 and the Indian Ports Bill, 2025 are pending before the Lok Sabha for approval.

On Saturday, the Opposition INDIA bloc held a virtual meeting of 24 of its constituents, reaching a consensus on eight major issues that they plan to raise during the Monsoon session, including India’s foreign policy, and the Election Commission’s ongoing electoral rolls revision in Bihar.

The demand for statehood for Jammu and Kashmir will also be raised during the session. Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge had recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the subject. National Conference leader and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said that the Opposition must be firm on this demand.

This session is also likely to end without electing a Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha, a constitutional requirement. With the position usually going to the opposition, no attempt was made to elect a Deputy Speaker between 2019 and 2024. No election has been held since the beginning of the current Lok Sabha in June, 2024. There is no sign that either the government or the opposition are pushing for it during the monsoon session either.