A Joint Parliamentary Committee was formed on Wednesday to examine the constitutional framework for 'One Nation, One Election', or the plan to conduct simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
The committee would be required to submit its report by the first day of the last week of the next Parliament session.
The panel includes 31 lawmakers—21 from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha—which includes key Opposition members such as Congress MPs Priyanka Gandhi and Manish Tewari.
The JPC has been setup a day after two legislations on One Nation, One Election were tabled in the Lok Sabha. One of them is aimed at syncing the terms of Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The second legislation's passage will be required to amend the laws related to Union territories to sync the terms of UT assemblies with the Lok Sabha.
The Congress, the main rival of the Centre-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has starkly opposed One Nation One Election, claiming that it would violate the principle of federalism. Other Opposition parties, mostly those belonging to the I.N.D.I.A bloc, are also opposed to holding simultaneous polls.
However, the BJP and its allies favoured the legislations tabled in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
Since the One Nation, One Election legislations are Constitutional Amendment Bills, they would require the support of "two-thirds" of all the members “present and voting” to be cleared.
While the BJP and its allies are ahead of the halfway-mark in the Parliament, they are significantly behind the two-third majority-mark. This makes the support of Opposition parties crucial to clear the bills.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.
