Lucknow, Jan. 22 -- The call for a consensus on legislative bodies holding a minimum of 30 sittings a year appears to have a valid reason. The Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha is a case in point. It has not been able to hold 30 sittings in a year since 2013, going by the data available on the matter. It was probably because of the low number of sittings in recent years that a resolution calling for the consensus was adopted at the 86th All India Presiding Officers' Conference here on Wednesday. Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker Satish Mahana moved the resolution. The Uttar Pradesh assembly met for 30 or more days only on five occasions in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2013. This is revealed by a scrutiny of the number of sittings of the House beginning from the tenure of 14th Vidhan Sabha (2002-2006) to the present 18th Vidhan Sabha (2022-2027). Those aware of the development said the assembly had 30 sittings in 2002, 37 sittings in 2005 and 37 again in 2006. There were 33 sittings of the House in 2007 and 30 in 2013. The House had a total of 147 sittings during the term of the 14th Vidhan Sabha (2002-2006). These included 30 (2002), 15 (2003), 28 (2004), 37 (2005) and 37 (2006). The 15th Vidhan Sabha (2007-2012) had a total of 102 sittings with 33 days in 2007, 22 days in 2008, 13 days in 2009, 20 days in 2010 and 14 days in 2011. The 16th Vidhan Sabha met for 133 days. These included 28 days in 2012, 30 in 2013, 24 in 2014, 27 in 2015 and 24 in 2016. The 17th Vidhan Sabha (2017-2022) had 24 sittings in 2017, 25 in 2018, 23 in 2019, 13 in 2020 and 17 in 2021. The 18th Vidhan Sabha (2022-2027) has had only 67 sittings till the end of 2025 - 16 in 2022, 20 in 2023, 16 in 2024 and 15 in 2025. The Bahujan Samaj Party, the Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party have been the parties in power in UP since 2002. There have been rules that provide for 'ordinarily' having 90 sittings and three sessions of the House- the budget session, the monsoon session and the winter session. The rules also provide for holding a session 'as far as possible' for at least 10 working days at an interval of two months. The UP assembly usually has three sessions of the House in a year. Under the provisions of Article 174 of the Constitution, there should not be a gap of six months between the two sessions. "... six months shall not intervene between its last sitting (of state legislature) in one session and the date appointed for its first sitting in the next session," the provisions read. If the House has a minimum number of 30 sittings every year, the total number of sittings would cross 150 sittings in the five-year term of the assembly. For his part, Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, speaking to media persons, read out the resolution calling for efforts for a consensus among the political parties over the issue and said all states have agreed on this. CM Yogi Adityanath, who was present at the valedictory session of the conference welcomed the move. "The state legislature sessions must last for at least 30 days in a year. I welcome the resolution in this regard and assured full cooperation."...