One Nation-One Election Bill: Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Tuesday moved the ‘one nation, one election’ bills in the Lok Sabha, with opposition parties uniting against it. Meghwal proposed the introduction of the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 to facilitate simultaneous polls in the country. The bill will now be sent to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for detailed discussions after Members’ approval.
Speaking on the bill, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that when ONOE bills came up in Cabinet, PM Narendra Modi said this should be referred to the Joint Committee of Parliament. Amid the stiff opposition, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal proposed that the bills should be sent to the Joint Parliamentary Committee. After Members expressed their views, the lower house took up the voting on the bill. The House adopted the bill with 269 votes in support and 198 against the bill.
Before voting, some members raised questions on electronic voting methods to which Union Home Minister Shah said that those having issues with electronic voting can vote via ballots. The members willing to correct their votes were also given ballots.
As soon as the bill was tabled in the Lok Sabha, Congress called with withdrawal of the bills. Congress MP Manish Tewari said that the introduction, and consideration of ONOE bills were beyond legislative competence of this House and urged the government to withdraw it. “One Nation, One Election bills are an assault on basic structure doctrine of Constitution,” said Tewari. Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi said that the ONOE bill will give ‘illegal’ powers to the Election Commission to advise the President on holding elections.
Supriya Sule of NCP-SP said that either the government should withdraw ONOE bill or refer it to a parliamentary committee. AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi said that the ONOE bills will indirectly introduce the presidential style of democracy and finish off regional parties.
Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) MP ET Muhammed Basheer said, “I express my very strong opposition to this Bill because this is an attack on the democracy and Constitution and federalism of India. If this Amendment is implemented, some states will have tenure for less than 3 years…”
DMK leader T R Baalu urged the government to refer ONOE bills to parliamentary committee. Trinamool Congress member Kalyan Banerjee took a jibe at PM Modi saying that the ONOE bills are not election reforms, but just a fulfilment of one gentleman’s desire and dream.
Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav opposed ONOE bills, terming them as an attempt by the BJP to bring in ‘dictatorship’ in the country.
Rejecting opposition charges, Law Minister Meghwal said, “There will be no damage to the Constitution via this Bill. There will be no tampering with the basic structure of the Constitution.”
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