The Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill was announced on Wednesday. The parliamentary panel will examine the bill, which seeks to hold Lok Sabha and state assembly elections simultaneously.
The committee consists of 21 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
On Tuesday, Union Law Minister Arjun Meghwal introduced the Union Territories Laws (Amendment Bill) 2024 and the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill 2024 to the Lok Sabha. When the bill was introduced, 269 division members voted in favour of it, while 196 members voted against it.
The JPC will prepare a report and present it to the House by the first day of the final week of the Budget Session, according the notification on Wednesday.
Opposition Against Bill
The “One Nation, One Election” bill has drawn criticism from opposition parties such as the Congress and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), who have referred to it as “against federalism.”
“The government is arguing that crores of rupees are being spent in organizing elections and it is trying to save money. To conduct a Lok Sabha election, Rs 3700 crores is spent, this figure was given by ECI during the 2024 LS elections. Rs 3,700 crores is 0.02 per cent of the annual budget. To save the 0.02 per cent expenditure of the annual budget, they want to end the entire federal structure of India and give more power to the ECI,” Congress deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi had said.
The bill was also opposed by TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, who stated that it “hits the basic structure of the Constitution.”
“It is contrary to Article 83 sub-article 2(1)… Thirdly, the state assembly will depend upon the desired doctrine of the central parliament. Whenever the parliament will dissolve, then all state elections have to be done. State assembly and state government are not subordinate to the Parliament and the central government,” Banerjee said.
The 21 members of the Lok Sabha who have been confirmed to be JPC members are as follows:
| No. | LOK SABHA MEMBERS |
| 1. | PP CHAUDHARY |
| 2. | CM RAMESH |
| 3. | BANSURI SWARAJ |
| 4. | PARSHOTTAMBHAI RUPALA |
| 5. | ANURAG SINGH THAKUR |
| 6. | VISHNU DAYAL RAM |
| 7. | BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB |
| 8. | SAMBIT PATRA |
| 9. | ANIL BALUNI |
| 10. | VISHNU DATT SHARMA |
| 11. | PRIYANKA GANDHI VADRA |
| 12. | MANISH TEWARI |
| 13. | SUKHDEO BHAGAT |
| 14. | DHARMENDRA YADAV |
| 15. | KALYAN BANERJEE |
| 16. | TM SELVAGANAPATHI |
| 17. | SUPRIYA SULE |
| 18. | GM HARSH BALAYOGI |
| 19. | SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE |
| 20. | CHANDAN CHAUHAN |
| 21. | BALASHOWRY VALLABHANENI |
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