PM favoured referring ONOE Bill to JPC for wider discussions: Shah tells LS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi favoured detailed discussion at every level on the 'one nation, one election' bill and wanted it to be referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday.

Shah made the remarks in Lok Sabha when the House was hearing objections to the introduction of the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill that seeks to usher in simultaneous polls to the Lower House and state assemblies.

"When One Nation, One Election bills came up in Cabinet, PM Modi said these should be referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament. There should be a detailed discussion over it at every level," Shah said.

The home minister pointed out that DMK member T R Baalu too had favoured referring the bill to a parliamentary committee.

Shah said the bill can be discussed in greater detail in the Joint Committee of Parliament.

The report of the JPC will be approved by the Union Cabinet and the Bill can be discussed again in Parliament, he said.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha following a division of votes. The Union Territories Amendment Bill seeks to align the elections to the union territories Puducherry, Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir with the Lok Sabha polls.