Lok Sabha extends tenure of JPC examining Bills on ‘One Nation, One Election’

• The Lok Sabha has formally extended the tenure of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) that is examining the Bills aimed at implementing simultaneous state and national elections.

• In December 2024, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla constituted the 39-member JPC and appointed BJP member P.P. Chaudhary, a former Union Minister of State for Law and Justice, as its chairman.

• A JPC is an ad-hoc committee of the Parliament to carry out detailed scrutiny of a specific matter within a specific time.

• The panel has 27 members from the Lok Sabha and 12 from the Rajya Sabha.

• The government decided to increase the committee’s strength from 31 to 39 as more political parties expressed desire to be part of the exercise to examine the two draft legislations.

• The JPC will now have until the first day of the last week of the Monsoon Session in 2026 to submit its report.

• This extension provides the panel with significantly more time to deliberate on the complex and far-reaching constitutional amendments being proposed.

• The JPC is specifically reviewing two critical pieces of legislation: the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024. 

• The primary objective of these Bills is to facilitate simultaneous elections for the Lok Sabha and all state Legislative Assemblies.

• Given the significant constitutional and logistical implications, the extension allows for a more thorough examination and consultation process.

• In September 2024, the Union Cabinet approved the recommendations of a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind. The Kovind panel had submitted the report in March 2024 ahead of the announcement of Lok Sabha elections.

• Simultaneous polls were held in the country between 1951 and 1967. The concept of simultaneous elections has featured in many reports and studies since 1983, essentially implying a return to the previous practice of conducting polls concurrently.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)