Govt to table motion for JPC on 'One Nation, One Election' in LS today

The motion in the Lok Sabha aims to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee for reviewing Bills related to 'One Nation, One Election' today. The panel will comprise 21 MPs from the Lower House

The union government plans to introduce a motion in the Lok Sabha on Thursday to form a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) tasked with reviewing the two pivotal Bills on concurrent national and state elections (One Nation, One Election). The motion will propose the inclusion of 21 Members of Parliament from the Lower House as committee members.

Proposed members of the committee

The list of proposed members from the Lok Sabha includes Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, along with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Bansuri Swaraj, Anurag Thakur, and Bhartruhari Mahtab. Additionally, the motion will pave the way for the inclusion of 10 Rajya Sabha MPs. The committee will submit its report by the first day of the final week of the 2025 Budget session.

 

Legislation under review

The two Bills under scrutiny are the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, and a Bill to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963. These were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday amid strong opposition, terming them as “unconstitutional” and an encroachment on state rights.

Details of the motion

According to the Lower House’s list of business, “Arjun Ram Meghwal (law minister) to move that the Bill further to amend the Constitution of India and the Bill further to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 be referred to a Joint Committee of the Houses consisting of the following 21 Members from this House.”

 

News reports mention that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla may appoint senior BJP MP and former minister PP Chaudhary as the chairperson of the JPC. Other BJP members expected to join the panel include CM Ramesh, Parshottambhai Rupala, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Sambit Patra, Anil Baluni, and Vishnu Datt Sharma.

 

The Congress representation is set to include Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Manish Tewari, and Sukhdeo Bhagat. Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala is also expected to be part of the committee, as suggested by a senior party leader.

Other proposed members

The proposal for the Joint Parliamentary Committee also includes names such as Dharmendra Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Kalyan Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), TM Selvaganapathy (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam), GM Harish Balayogi (Telugu Desam Party), Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party), Shrikant Eknath Shinde (Shiv Sena), Chandan Chauhan (Rashtriya Lok Dal), and Balashowry Vallabhaneni (Janasena Party).

Reporting timeline

The motion specifies that the quorum for JPC sittings will be one-third of its total members. The committee is required to report back to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session. The rules of procedure and conduct of business for parliamentary committees will apply, subject to variations as directed by the Speaker. The Lok Sabha will recommend that the Rajya Sabha join the JPC and communicate the names of its appointed members.

  The government introduced the two Bills in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, amid protests from opposition parties. This marks the initial step in the government’s ambitious effort to reform the electoral process in India.

 

[With agency inputs]