Four winter sessions shorter than present one: Minister

New Delhi, Dec 15 (IANS) Winter sessions of Parliament have been shorter than the present one at least four times in past, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Vijay Goel said on Friday.

In a written reply to Rajya Sabha on the first day of the Winter Session, Goel said the 1976, 1990-91, 1994, and 2013, winter sessions were shorter than present.

The Winter Session this time was delayed due to assembly elections in Gujarat. The 22-day session, which started on Friday, and will end on January 5, has 14 working days.

Goel, in reply to a question by Congress MP Wansuk Syiem, said: "In the past also the Winter Session of Parliament had been held for lesser period or rescheduled."

In 1976, in the fifth Lok Sabha, the Winter Session in Lok Sabha was held from October 25 to November 5, with 11 sittings in 12 days, while the winter session in Rajya Sabha was held from November 3 to November 15, with nine sittings in 13 days.A

During the ninth Lok Sabha, the winter session in both houses had 10 sittings in a 16-day long session, held from December 27, 1990 to January 11, 1991, while during the 10th Lok Sabha, in 1994, the winter session was 17 days long, with 13 sittings from December 7, 1994 to December 23, 1994 for both houses.

The most recent one was in 2013 during the 15th Lok Sabha, when winter session for both houses had just 10 sittings in a 14-day-long session, between December 5, 2013 to December 18, 2013.

Congress and other opposition parties had slammed the government over delaying the Winter Session, and accusing it of undermining Parliament with the short session.