Delayed Winter Session from Dec 15 to Jan 5

New Delhi, Nov 24 The delayed Winter Session of Parliament will begin on December 15 and continue till January 5, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said on Friday.

"The Winter Session of Parliament will be held between December 15 to January 5. It will have 14 sittings over a duration of 22 days," Kumar told reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs (CCPA) here.

An official statement from the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry said the session dates were recommended by the CCPA, and is "subject to exigencies of government business".

Kumar also said that Parliament will remain closed on December 25 and 26 for Christmas.

Talking to journalists, Ananth Kumar said that it was not unprecedented for the Parliament Session schedule to be decided so as to avoid overlap with Assembly Elections.

"This practice has been followed on many occasions by different governments in the past," he said.

The Minister said earlier sessions have been delayed during the times of former Prime Ministers P.V. Narasimha Rao, and Manmohan Singh, in 1993, 2008 and 2011.