The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on ‘One Nation, One Election’ will begin on Wednesday morning at 11:00 AM in Delhi.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP PP Chaudhary, the JPC Chairperson, will chair the meeting.
The officials from the Law and Justice Ministry are scheduled to brief the parliamentary panel, tasked to scrutinise the bills proposing simultaneous elections, during the meeting.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee is supposed to examine the ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bill, which consists of members from Lok Sabha including Congress leaders Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari, NCP’s Supriya Sule, TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee and BJP’s PP Chaudhary, Bansuri Swaraj and Anurag Singh Thakur.
The members of the Rajya Sabha are also part of the panel.
The bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha during the Winter Session of Parliament, proposes simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies across the country. It was referred to the Joint Parliamentary Committee for scrutiny and discussion on the bill.
Earlier, JPC Chairperson Chaudhary said that India will reach its goal of ‘Viksit Bharat’ by 2047 if the development projects being undertaken are expedited. He added that the development work can be undertaken faster when the model code of conduct is implemented less frequently.
He said that the public was burdened due to repeated elections and expenditure increases.
“The elections to Lok Sabha used to be held together…Later, the sequence was disturbed since many governments were dissolved…It has been felt that due to repeated elections, the expenditure increases a lot and the public is burdened,” Chaudhary added.
Meanwhile, opposition members have been opposing the amendments, and have argued that the proposed change could disproportionately benefit the ruling party, giving it undue influence over the top electoral process in states, and undermining the autonomy of regional parties. They have also argued that the bills proposing simultaneous elections are against the federal structure.
In reaction to this, Union Law and Justice Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal earlier said that the proposal is “practical and important” and will be discussed from the start of the new year with the first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee to take place on January 8.
In an interview with ANI, Meghwal said the proposal for simultaneous elections to assemblies and Lok Sabha has been discussed for quite some time and is not against the federal structure. (ANI)
