Parliamentary Sessions under Article 85

Article 85 requires that no more than six months intervene between the last sitting of one session of Parliament and the date appointed for the first sitting of the next session. This limit applies separately to each House, ensuring that neither House goes without meeting beyond the constitutionally permitted interval.

The constitutional limit and its calculation

Article 85(1) empowers the President to summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as the President thinks fit, subject to the six-month limit.

• The interval is measured from the last sitting of the preceding session to the date appointed for the first sitting of the next session, not between the starting dates of the two sessions.
• The provision sets a maximum permissible gap; it does not require Parliament to wait six months before meeting again.
• Article 85 does not prescribe fixed dates or names for parliamentary sessions. The Budget, Monsoon and Winter Sessions are customary arrangements rather than a constitutionally prescribed calendar.

Distinguishing a session from a sitting

A session contains individual sittings of a House. Understanding how sittings and sessions end helps identify the interval governed by Article 85.

• Adjournment suspends a sitting of the House and is ordered by its presiding officer; it does not end the session.
• Prorogation ends a session. Under Article 85(2)(a), the President may prorogue either House or both Houses.
• The constitutional calculation uses the last sitting of the previous session, not the date on which that session was prorogued.