New Delhi:
Two payments to amend the Constitution – and permit simultaneous federal and state elections by 2034 – had been despatched to a 39-member joint parliamentary committee Friday morning, as the ultimate act of a Lok Sabha winter session roiled by unseemly Congress vs BJP, protest vs counterprotest drama over Home Minister Amit Shah’s “Ambedkar is the style” comment. The Lower House was then adjourned sine die.
Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari and the Trinamool’s Kalyan Banerjee and Saket Gokhale are among the many opposition faces on the committee, whereas former Union Minister Anurag Thakur, Sambit Patra, and Anil Baluni will characterize the federal government.
Others on the panel – expanded from 31 after smaller events additionally demanded illustration – are from Maharashtra’s rival Shiv Sena and NCP factions and two of the BJP’s allies; the latter, although, does not but embody both Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s JDU or Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s TDP, each of that are seen as propping the BJP’s authorities on the centre.
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The JPC can have an preliminary time period of 90 days however this may be prolonged. It has been tasked with holding “wider consultations” on 5 contentious amendments to the Constitution, which embody limiting and/or altering, and linking phrases of state and union territory assemblies to the Lok Sabha.
Among these to be consulted is the Election Commission, the nation’s prime ballot physique and which can have the terribly mammoth process of organising the simultaneous elections.
The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was tabled within the Lok Sabha this week by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, and triggered fierce protests from the opposition.
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The Congress and two INDIA bloc allies – the Samajwadi Party and the Trinamool, neither of whom have seen eye-to-eye this Parliament session – united to sentence what they stated had been makes an attempt to subvert the Constitution and the nation’s federal character, by robbing legislatures of independence.
The proposed change to simultaneous polls has, nonetheless, been backed by the ruling BJP, which has claimed streamlining the electoral calendar – which sees a number of state and native physique polls yearly – affords a number of financial advantages, together with stopping ‘coverage paralysis’ and reducing prices.
What Is ‘One Nation, One Election’?
Simply put, it means all Indians will vote in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections – to choose central and state representatives – in the identical 12 months, if not on the identical time.
As of 2024, solely 4 states voted with a Lok Sabha election – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha voted alongside the April-June Lok Sabha election. Three others – Maharashtra, Haryana, and Jammu and Kashmir – voted in October-November.
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The relaxation comply with a non-synced five-year cycle; Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Telangana, for instance, had been amongst these voted at completely different instances final 12 months, whereas Delhi and Bihar will vote in 2025 and Tamil Nadu and Bengal are amongst these that may vote in 2026.
Can ‘One Nation, One Election’ Work?
Not with out the amendments to the Constitution and that modification being ratified by the governments of all states and union territories, in addition to, presumably, main political events.
These are Article 83 (time period of Parliament), Article 85 (dissolution of Lok Sabha by the President), Article 172 (length of state legislatures), and Article 174 (dissolution of state legislatures), in addition to Article 356 (imposition of President’s Rule).
Legal consultants have warned that failure to move such amendments will go away the proposal open to assault on costs of violating India’s federal construction.
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