Previous Year Question

Under Article 108, a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament is summoned by the President. Its principal purpose is to resolve specified forms of legislative deadlock between the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha over an ordinary Bill.

A joint sitting may arise principally when the other House rejects the Bill, when the two Houses finally disagree on amendments, or when more than six months elapse after the other House receives the Bill without passing it.

The most important distinction is—

Joint sitting summoned by → President
Joint sitting presided over by → Speaker of Lok Sabha

Thus, option (b) can be misleading. The Lok Sabha Speaker does not summon the joint sitting; the Speaker presides over it.

There is no joint sitting for a Money Bill. Similarly, Article 108 does not provide a joint sitting to resolve disagreement over a Constitution Amendment Bill; such a Bill must separately secure the constitutionally required special majority in both Houses.

Another fact is that at a joint sitting an ordinary Bill is decided by a majority of the total number of members of both Houses present and voting.