The nearly month-long monsoon session of Parliament is likely to be held on schedule, beginning from July 19, despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Cabinet Committee on Parliamentary Affairs led by defence minister Rajnath Singh has recommended the monsoon session be held from July 19 to August 13, sources said.

The monsoon session of Parliament usually commences in the third week of July and concludes before Independence Day.

A fall in Covid cases in the country and a good number of MPs and Parliament staff getting vaccinated has led the government to go for a normal session to clear many pending bills and ordinances, sources said.

So far, 403 members out of the Lok Sabha’s total strength of 540 and 179 out of 232 Rajya Sabha MPs have received both doses of the vaccine. Some MPs have not received the second dose as they got infected with Covid after the first jab.

The normal functioning of Parliament has been affected because of the pandemic since March last year. The budget and monsoon sessions last year and this year’s budget session had to be wrapped up early because of Covid. Last year, the winter session had to be foregone because of the pandemic.

The upcoming monsoon session is likely to have 20 sittings in all and is set to be stormy with the Opposition seeking to corner the government over mismanagement of the pandemic, vaccinations and the economic crisis.

This will be the first session post the recent bunch of Assembly polls in which the BJP faced a drubbing in Bengal. The results will strengthen the Opposition’s attack on the government.

Covid protocols, however, will be in place with no visitors allowed in the galleries and strict screening.