Previous Year Question

Under Article 101(4) of the Constitution, if a member of either House of Parliament remains absent from all meetings of the House without its permission for a period of 60 days, the concerned House may declare his seat vacant. This provision applies to members of both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

An important constitutional distinction is that Article 101(4) does not provide for automatic disqualification. The precise constitutional rule is that the House may declare his seat vacant. Thus, merely completing 60 days of absence does not automatically vacate the seat; the concerned House takes the decision.

While computing these 60 days, no account is taken of any period during which the House is prorogued or is adjourned for more than four consecutive days. This qualification is particularly important for understanding the 60-day rule correctly.

It may also be noted that the original Hindi paper itself prints the expression “किसी संसद को अयोग्य घोषित”; it has therefore been retained exactly rather than corrected to “सांसद”. Constitutionally, however, Article 101(4) concerns declaring the seat of a Member of either House vacant.