Politics

Decks were cleared for setting up a mega 39-member parliamentary panel to examine the two bills proposing simultaneous elections with the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha adopting resolutions in this regard.

The government decided to increase the Committee's strength from 31 to 39 as more political parties expressed the desire to be part of the exercise to examine the two draft legislations that seek to fulfill the BJP’s long-cherished promise of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies. Among the 39 members of the Committee, 16 are from the BJP, five from the Congress, two each from SP, TMC and DMK, and one each from the Shiv Sena, TDP, JD(U), RLD, LJSP(RV), JSP, Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP-SP, CPI(M), AAP, BJD and YSRCP.

BJP leader and Lok Sabha member Bhratruhari Mahtab is tipped to be the chairman of the Joint Committee on the 'One Nation One Election' (ONOE) bills with former union ministers Anurag Thakur, Parshottam Rupala, P P Chaudhary, Manish Tewari and several first term lawmakers, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bansuri Swaraj and Sambit Patra, as members.

The Joint Committee to examine the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill will have 37 members from the Lok Sabha and 12 members from the Rajya Sabha.

The NDA has 22 members and 10 are from the opposition I.N.D.I.A bloc. The BJD and the YSRCP are not members of the ruling or the opposition coalition. The BJD is yet to spell out its stand on simultaneous polls, while the YSRCP has backed the move. The Committee has been asked to submit its report to the Lok Sabha by the first day of the last week of the next session.

However, considering the importance of the measure, the Committee could get an extension in tenure as required.