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Special Sessions of Parliament

Constitutional Provisions

Parliament can be summoned for a special or extraordinary session outside the regular Budget and Monsoon sessions under the constitutional framework.

Key details

Article 85(1): The President shall summon each House of Parliament to meet at such time and place as they think fit, with the interval between sittings of the same House not exceeding six months.
Article 85(2)(a): The President may prorogue the Houses.
In practice, the President summons Parliament on the advice of the Cabinet (under Article 74).
Special session is a term used colloquially — constitutionally, all Parliament sessions (Budget, Monsoon, Winter, or any special sitting) are summoned under Article 85. The term "special session" implies a session called outside the regular calendar for specific legislative business.
The September 2023 session, during which the 106th Amendment was passed, was itself a "special session" of Parliament called with only a few days' notice.
Calling a special session to pass constitutional amendments requires the standard majorities: special majority (two-thirds of members present and voting + majority of total membership of each House) under Article 368.