Parliament’s Budget Session reconvenes today — and so far, it has exactly one bill to show for itself.
The Scorecard
The session kicked off on January 28 and runs until April 2. Phase 1 wrapped on February 13. In that stretch, Parliament managed to pass a single piece of legislation: the Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Bill, 2026 — a technical fix to the 2020 labour code that prevents complications from the three older laws it replaced.
One bill. The Finance Bill, 2026, introduced alongside the Union Budget on February 1, is still pending. So are nine other bills the Lok Sabha secretariat has listed for this session.
What’s Waiting
Phase 2 starts today (March 9) and the backlog is real.
The Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill must pass before April 2 — no exceptions. The Finance Bill alone is significant: it manages the transition to the new Income-tax Act, 2025 and introduces a one-time Foreign Assets Disclosure Scheme for small taxpayers.
Beyond the mandatory financial legislation, the queue includes the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill — its committee report landed in December, so it’s ready for debate — the Electricity Amendment Bill, and the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, still with a joint committee. The Securities Markets Code remains parked with the finance panel, no timeline in sight.
The headline items everyone’s watching — the One Nation One Election bill and Waqf Amendment follow-ups — are buried in joint parliamentary committees with no sign of surfacing before April 2.
The Spoiler
Here’s the problem: bills may not define Phase 2 at all. The opposition has filed a no-confidence resolution against Speaker Om Birla, backed by 118 MPs including Congress and TMC, alleging “blatantly partisan” conduct. The government has the numbers to defeat it — but the debate will consume floor time that could have gone to legislation.
Add West Asia and India-US trade tensions to the agenda, and the window for clearing pending bills just got tighter.
Twenty-five sitting days. Nine bills waiting. The Budget’s promises don’t become law until Parliament actually votes.