Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi favoured detailed discussion at every level on the ‘one nation, one election’ bill and wanted it to be referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament.
The remarks made by the Union Home Minister came when the Lok Sabha was hearing objections to the introduction of the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill that seeks to usher in simultaneous polls to the Lower House and state assemblies.
“When One Nation, One Election bills came up in Cabinet, PM Modi said these should be referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament. There should be a detailed discussion over it at every level,” Shah said.
The former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief said that DMK member T R Baalu too had favoured referring the bill to a parliamentary committee. Shah stated that the bill can be discussed in greater detail in the Joint Committee of Parliament. The report of the JPC will be approved by the Union Cabinet and the bill can be discussed again in Parliament, he said.
The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was introduced in Lok Sabha following a division of votes. The Union Territories Amendment Bill seeks to align the elections to the union territories of Puducherry, Delhi, and Jammu & Kashmir with the Lok Sabha polls.
The bills were passed by simple majority according to the rulebook. 269 MPs voted in favour and 198 opposed it. The critics of the ‘one nation, one election bill’ said that the voting in the Lower House shows that the PM Modi-led central government lacks support, and it failed to attain a two-thirds majority.
In a post on X, Congress MP Manickam Tagore said, “Two-thirds majority (i.e., 307) was needed out of the total 461 votes… but the government secured only 269, while the opposition got 198. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal failed to gain two-thirds support”. He shared a screenshot of the e-voting system along with the post.
Two-thirds majority (307) was needed out of the total 461 votes, but the government secured only 263, while the opposition got 198. The ‘One Nation, One Election’ proposal failed to gain two-thirds support. — Manickam Tagore மாணிக்கம் தாகூர் (@manickamtagore)
The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024′ and ‘The Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024’ was formally introduced in Lok Sabha after members voted on it. The bill proposes ‘One Nation One Election’ or simultaneous elections to both Lok Sabha and state assemblies. The bill will be sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed discussions.
On Tuesday, the Speaker of the Lok Sabha announced the result of the vote on the introduction of the bill in the house. The vote showed 269 members in favour (Ayes) and 196 against (Noes). This followed Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal’s formal introduction of the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024, on ‘One Nation, One Election’ and his agreement to sending the bill to a JPC in response to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement.
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