The stage is set for another round of intense discussions in the Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) on ‘One Nation, One Election’ as the new panel began its meeting on Wednesday. This is the second JPC to be set up since the new government took over, the previous panel being on the contentious Waqf Amendment Bill.
During the first meeting of the JPC on simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies, the opposition members questioned the need for such an initiative as it would go against the federal principle of the Constitution. Predictably, the NDA members particularly those from the BJP, supported the move. The NDA allies, the JDU and the TDP were also in favour of the simultaneous polls. A presentation was made by the Ministry of Law and Justice on the provisions of the bills.
All 39 member MPs of the panel were given a bag with over 18,000 pages, including one volume of the Ram Nath Kovind committee report. The government introduced the bills during the last session after the BJP-led Mahayuti swept the Maharashtra elections, thus suggesting that the mandate was for the government to carry forward the reforms.
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What assumes significance is that the newly elected Congress MP, Priyanka Gandhi, is a member of this panel. She questioned the officials about the expenditure component of the simultaneous polls as it would involve bringing more EVMs and creating infrastructure for such a massive exercise. The INDIA bloc members claimed that the idea of simultaneous polls was against the basic structure of the Constitution.
The BJP members contended that when the first elections were held in the country, simultaneous polls were held to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies. BJP member V.D. Sharma pointed out that the committee headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind had consulted over 25,000 members of the public and had then proposed the roadmap for the ONOE.
The ruling party argued that simultaneous polls would help save resources and valuable time lost in holding elections throughout the year. The panel is headed by former Union minister P.P. Chaudhary.
The former NDA-friendly parties like the YSR Congress and the BJD have nuanced their stance to oppose the idea as they felt that their perceived closeness to the ruling BJP had cost them dear in the state assembly polls. The parties feel that the simultaneous elections may marginalise regional parties.
The JPC will call more stakeholders for the meetings before submitting its report.