Lok Sabha extends tenure of JPC on ‘one nation, one election’ bills
The JPC headed by senior BJP lawmaker PP Chaudhary has so far held five meetings and is scheduled to have its sixth meeting on Tuesday
NEW DELHI: The Lok Sabha on Tuesday extended the tenure of the 38-member Joint Committee of Parliament examining the two bills that propose to usher in simultaneous state and national elections till the first day of the last week of Parliament’s Monsoon session.
The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill – which proposes amendments and insertion of new Articles that will allow the terms of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies to be synchronised – and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, which seek to align elections in the Union territories of Puducherry, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir with the Lok Sabha polls, were introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 17, 2024 amid strong objection from the Opposition benches.
The proposal to align elections – known colloquially as one nation, one election (ONOE) - was later referred to a JPC led by senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lawmaker PP Chaudhary for detailed examination.
Also Read: Why simultaneous elections may be a good idea for India
The JPC has so far held five meetings and has its sixth meeting scheduled for Tuesday.
Top jurists such as former Chief Justice of India (CJI) UU Lalit, Ranjan Gogoi and senior advocate Harish Salve have so far briefed the panel on the proposed legislation.
While there is firm support in favour of the bill, many experts including those who have appeared before the panel have opined that the bills seek to give excessive powers to the Election Commission.
Many Opposition lawmakers expressed their concerns regarding the bill, questioning its constitutionality. Some argued that the bill poses a threat to democracy and undermines the principles of federalism.
To be sure, several committees, including a parliamentary panel, the Niti Aayog and the Election Commission of India, have studied simultaneous polls in the past, backing the idea but flagging logistical concerns.
The bills propose the alignment process to begin in 2029 and the first simultaneous elections in 2034. The constitutional amendment Bill suggests that if the Lok Sabha or any state assembly is dissolved before the end of the full term, midterm elections for that legislature alone would be held for the remainder of the five-year term.
According to an analysis by Hindustan Times, in the five years to April-May 2024 (when the Lok Sabha elections were held) states and UTs spent between 80 and 145 days under the force of the Model Code of Conduct, restricting the range of government activities. At the top end, that’s almost a month every year for the past five years (and the states affected were large ones such as West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala). The ONOE plan seeks to put an end to this.
