Govt set to move motion over JPC for simultaneous poll bills today

The names will include Congress’s newly-elected MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, and Bharatiya Janata Party lawmakers Bansuri Swaraj, Anurag Thakur and Bhartruhari Mahtab, among others. The motion will also make way for the inclusion of 10 MPs from the Rajya Sabha, and the panel will be asked to submit its report on the first day of the last week of the 2025 Budget session.

“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,” said the list of business of the Lower House for Thursday.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the bill to amend the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963 were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, amid stiff resistance of the Opposition parties who termed them as unconstitutional and infringing upon the rights of states.

Officials indicated that Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla might appoint former minister and senior BJP MP PP Chaudhary as the chairman of the JPC. BJP’s CM Ramesh, Parshottambhai Rupala, Vishnu Dayal Ram, Sambit Patra, Anil Baluni and Vishnu Datt Sharma will be among the members of the panel.

Other than Priyanka Gandhi, Manish Tewari and Sukhdeo Bhagat will be in the panel. A senior party leader suggested that Rajya Sabha MP Randeep Singh Surjewala is also likely to be a member of the JPC.

Samajwadi Party’s Dharmendra Yadav, Trinamool Congress’s Kalyan Banerjee, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s TM Selvaganapathi’s names were also included in the proposal for the JPC.

Telugu Desam Party’s GM Harish Balayogi, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Supriya Sule, Shiv Sena’s Shrikant Eknath Shinde, Rashtriya Lok Dal’s Chandan Chauhan and Janasena’s Balashowry Vallabhaneni were set to be the other members.

“That in order to constitute a sitting of the joint committee the quorum shall be one-third of the total number of members of the joint committee; that the committee shall make a report to this House by the first day of the last week of the next session; that in other respects, the rules of procedure and conduct of business of this House relating to parliamentary committees shall apply with such variations and modifications as the Speaker may make; and that this House recommends to Rajya Sabha that Rajya Sabha do join the said joint committee and communicate to this House names of the members to be appointed by Rajya Sabha to the joint committee,” the motion said.

On Tuesday, the government introduced in the Lok Sabha the two bills amid loud protests by the Opposition, taking the first step towards implementing sweeping changes in the way polls are conducted in the world’s largest democracy.

Union home minister Amit Shah announced in the House that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill to be sent to JPC for detailed review after the Opposition forced voting over the scope of the bills’ introduction. As many as 263 members voted in favour of the bill’s introduction and 198 against it.

The proposal to align elections – known colloquially as one nation, one poll (ONOP) – was a part of the BJP’s 2024 poll manifesto and is backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who argues that it will trim election costs and give more time for development.

But the proposal is fiercely opposed by a raft of political parties and activists who allege that it will hurt democratic accountability and federalism. The bills propose the alignment process to begin in 2029 and the first simultaneous elections in 2034.

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