New Delhi: With the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha, the contentious Citizenship (amendment) Bill and the one on banning triple talaq have lapsed as they were not passed by the Rajya Sabha.
The two Bills could not be passed by the Rajya Sabha in the Budget Session, the last Parlia-ment session of the outgoing government.
The term of the present Lok Sabha was to end on June 3, but with the election process over, President Ram Nath Kovind dissolved the Lower House on Saturday.
The first session of the 17th Lok Sabha is likely to commence from June 6.
Bills introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending there do not lapse with the dissolution of Lok Sabha. Bills passed by the Lok Sabha, and pending in the Rajya Sabha, however, lapse.
The Opposition had been opposing provisions of the two Bills in the RS where the government lacked numbers.
The Citizenship (Amen-dment) Bill, 2019 provided for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakis-tan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the current norm, even if they do not possess any document. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session on January 8, but could not be cleared by the Upper House.
There has been strong opposition to the bill in Assam and other Northeast states.
Student organisations, political parties and socio-cultural bodies have been protesting on the grounds that it seeks to grant nationality to non-Muslims who have come into India up to December 31, 2014, thereby increasing the deadline from 1971 as per the Assam Accord.
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) bill which made the practice of instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat) a penal offence, was opposed by the opposition parties which had claimed that jail term for the husband for divorcing his wife is legally untenable.
