Rejection, disagreement or six months of delay: when Article 108 allows a joint sitting

Background

Article 108 provides for a joint sitting of the two Houses of Parliament when an ordinary Bill is stuck. Three situations open that door: the second House rejects the Bill; the Houses finally disagree on the amendments to be made to it; or more than six months pass from the day the second House received the Bill without its being passed. The President can then notify both Houses of an intention to summon them to a joint sitting to deliberate and vote on the Bill, unless the Bill has lapsed because the House of the People was dissolved. A Money Bill is expressly kept out of this route. In reckoning the six months, any period for which the second House is prorogued or adjourned for more than four consecutive days is left out. Once the notification is issued neither House carries the Bill further, and at the joint sitting the Bill is taken to have been passed by both Houses if a majority of all the members of the two Houses who are present and voting support it. A dissolution of the House of the People after the notification does not stop the joint sitting being held.