Special session of Parliament explained: who calls one, and could it remove the CEC?

What happened this weekend?

The INDIA bloc held a mock trial of the Chief Election Commissioner. On Saturday, 21 opposition parties sat as a mock Parliament at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge’s residence in New Delhi, with former Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar in the chair. They adopted a six-point resolution seeking Gyanesh Kumar’s removal, accusing him of deleting voters during the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and of acting for the government. The Election Commission has rejected the vote theft charge as part of a misleading narrative.

A day earlier, Home Minister Amit Shah had offered the opposition a different stage. “I am ready to call a special session... But Rahul Baba will never agree,” he told BJP workers in Lucknow.

Is ‘impeachment’ the right word?

Not in law. The Constitution uses impeachment only for the President, under Article 61. A Chief Election Commissioner is removed, not impeached, under Article 324(5). The mock sitting was a political event: it has no legal force, and nothing it resolved binds Parliament, the President or the Commission.

What is a special session?

Any sitting called outside Parliament’s usual calendar. The phrase does not appear in the Constitution. By convention Parliament meets three times a year, for the Budget, Monsoon and Winter Sessions, but Article 85 simply says the President shall summon each House from time to time, at a time and place the President thinks fit, as long as no more than six months pass between the last sitting of one session and the first sitting of the next.

The President acts on the advice of the Council of Ministers. In practice, then, the government decides when Parliament meets, for how long and to discuss what. That is why Shah’s offer matters: only the government can make it.

Has Parliament met in special session before?

Many times, usually for anniversaries or emergencies. It met at midnight on 14 and 15 August 1947 for Independence, and in November 1962 to discuss the war with China, after Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru agreed to a demand from Atal Bihari Vajpayee. More recently it sat at midnight on 30 June 2017 to launch the GST, and in September 2023 for a five-day session in which it moved into the new building and passed the women’s reservation law.

Some special sittings of Parliament

1. Aug 1947Midnight session marks Independence and the transfer of power.
2. Nov 1962Parliament debates the war with China.
3. Aug 1997Midnight session marks 50 years of Independence.
4. Jul 2008Lok Sabha holds a trust vote after the Left withdraws support.
5. Jun 2017Joint midnight sitting launches the GST.
6. Sep 2023Five-day session; Parliament moves into the new building.

Can the opposition force one?

Only in one narrow case. Under Article 352(8), if at least one-tenth of Lok Sabha members give written notice of a resolution to disapprove a Proclamation of Emergency, “a special sitting of the House shall be held within fourteen days”. There is no such route for any other subject, including the conduct of the Election Commission. On the CEC, the opposition must wait for the government to call a session, or for the Winter Session, which usually begins in late November or early December.

Would a special session remove the CEC?

Not on its own. A session is only a platform. Removal has its own procedure, the one for a Supreme Court judge. Article 324(5) says the CEC cannot be removed except in like manner and on like grounds as a Supreme Court judge, and Section 11 of the 2023 CEC Act repeats it: the CEC “shall not be removed from his office except in like manner and on the like grounds as a Judge of the Supreme Court.”

That means a notice signed by at least 100 Lok Sabha or 50 Rajya Sabha members. The Speaker or the Chairman may admit or refuse it. If admitted, a three-member committee of a Supreme Court judge, a High Court Chief Justice and a distinguished jurist examines the charges under the Judges (Inquiry) Act, 1968, and the CEC can defend himself. Only if the committee finds proved misbehaviour or incapacity does the motion go to a vote. It must then pass in both Houses in the same session by a majority of total membership and two-thirds of members present and voting, after which the President orders the removal.

Has this ever worked?

Never for a CEC, and never fully for a judge. The 1993 motion against Justice V Ramaswami failed to win the two-thirds majority in the Lok Sabha. In 2011 the Rajya Sabha passed a motion against Calcutta High Court judge Soumitra Sen, who then resigned. The opposition’s own record this year is no better: notices against Gyanesh Kumar signed by 193 MPs in March were refused by Speaker Om Birla and Chairman C P Radhakrishnan on 6 April, and a second notice signed by 73 Rajya Sabha members in April is still pending.

The other two Election Commissioners have a different shield: under the 2023 Act they can be removed only on the recommendation of the CEC.

So what is at stake?

A debate, not a verdict. A special session would give the opposition the floor of Parliament for its charges against the Commission, and give the government a chance to answer them on the record. Removing the CEC would still need a notice admitted by the presiding officers and a special majority the opposition does not have. The bloc takes its campaign to a rally at Ramlila Maidan on Sunday; whether Shah’s offer becomes a date on the calendar is up to the government.