The second meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was held on Friday (31 January) on the amendment bill for one country-one election. The committee made a list of stakeholders to take suggestions on the bill. This includes former Chief Justices of the Supreme Court and different High Courts of the country, Election Commission, political parties and state governments. The committee will also take suggestions from teachers’ organizations and industry groups like CII, FICCI, banks, RBI, Bar Council. In the meeting, the members were discussed how to move forward with the fixed agenda of the JPC. According to sources, suggestions can be taken from institutions like Constitutional Experts, Security Agencies, several government departments, media organizations, Law Commission, Bar Council of India, public sectors, think-tanks, Chamber of Commerce, IIM. Discussion held in the second meeting, in points… Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra is also included in the 39-member committee headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary. Opposition MPs also demanded to extend the tenure of JPC by one year. JPC has to present its report in Lok Sabha by the last day of the first week of the budget session. The first meeting was held on January 8. Before this, the first meeting of JPC was held on January 8. In this, all the MPs were given a trolley containing a report of more than 18 thousand pages. This includes 21 copies of the report and annexure of the Kovind Committee in Hindi and English. This also includes a soft copy. Discussion of the first meeting, in points… Voting was done to present the bill in Parliament. Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal presented the 129th Constitution Amendment Bill regarding one country-one election in the Lok Sabha on December 17. Opposition MPs opposed it. After this, electronic voting was done to present the bill. After objections from some MPs, voting was done again with slips to modify the vote. In this voting, 269 votes were cast in favor of presenting the bill and 198 against it. After this, the Law Minister again placed the bill in the House. Congress said – The government could not gather 272 MPs while presenting the bill. Regarding the One Country One Election Bill, Congress said on December 20 that how will the BJP get this bill passed? Because it does not have a two-thirds majority (362 MPs) in the House to amend the Constitution. Even though the bill was sent to the JPC, Congress opposes it. In fact, on December 20, the proposal to nominate 12 members related to this bill was passed by voice vote in the Rajya Sabha. Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar had asked Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal to present a proposal to nominate Rajya Sabha members to the committee. After this, a proposal recommending both the bills to the Joint Committee of Parliament was passed. Then it was decided to send the bill to the 39-member JPC. What is One Country-One Election… In India, elections are held for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies at different times. One Country-One Election means holding elections for the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies simultaneously. That is, voters will cast their votes on the same day and at the same time to elect members of the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. After independence, Lok Sabha and assembly elections were held simultaneously in 1952, 1957, 1962 and 1967, but in 1968 and 1969 many assemblies were dissolved prematurely. After that, the Lok Sabha was also dissolved in December 1970. Due to this, the tradition of one country-one election was broken. A committee was formed on September 2, 2023 under the chairmanship of former President Ram Nath Kovind to consider one country-one election. The committee submitted its report to President Draupadi Murmu on March 14, 2024 after discussions with stakeholders and experts in about 191 days. To implement one country-one election, arrangements will be made to add 1 new article and amend 3 articles in the Constitution through constitutional amendment. What will change with the constitutional amendment, 3 points… ————————————— Read this news related to one country-one election too… Will there be one election in the country from 2029, everything important to know about its advantages and disadvantages The first election of independent India was held in 1951-52. At that time, the elections of Lok Sabha and state assemblies were held simultaneously. This tradition continued till 1957, 1962 and 1967. Now, this tradition can start again in 2029. A bill related to this can be presented in the Parliament. At the same time, opposition leaders have raised this question. Read the full news…
