The average annual sitting days of the first Lok Sabha, with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the leader of House, was 135 days, and the 17th Lok Sabha, which concluded on Friday, sat only for 55 days on average in a year.
According to a statistical study of the Parliament between June 2019 to February 2024 by the non-profit PRS Legislative Research, the 17th Lok Sabha held 274 sittings and the four previous Lok Sabhas, all of which were dissolved before the stipulated five-year period, had fewer sittings.
One of the explanations for the fewest sittings is the COVID-19 pandemic although it does not explain why 11 out of the 15 sessions held during this Lok Sabha were adjourned early, resulting in the cancellation of 40 scheduled sittings. Different reasons were cited for each cancellation. Out of the five years, Parliament sat for the lowest number of days (33 in total) in 2020.
