The 'One Nation, One Election' bill is scheduled to be introduced in the Lok Sabha today, December 17th. Central Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will present this bill before the Lok Sabha. This is being referred to as the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024. Meanwhile, the BJP has issued a three-line whip to all its Lok Sabha MPs, mandating their presence in the house on December 17, 2024. The party has noted that significant legislative discussions will take place in both houses of Parliament on this day.
Law Minister to Present Two Bills
According to sources, the Center has initiated steps towards implementing 'One Nation, One Election.' In line with this, the government is geared up to introduce two crucial bills in Parliament to enforce the 'One Nation, One Election' concept on Tuesday in the Lok Sabha.
First: Constitutional Amendment Bill
The Law Minister will introduce a constitutional amendment bill, proposed to revise key provisions of the Constitution to enable simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The second will be the Union Territories Amendment Bill, intended to align the electoral cycles of Union Territories like Delhi, Puducherry, and Jammu & Kashmir with this plan.
Can States Hold Separate Elections?
It was earlier revealed that the bill might be referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for discussion. Section 2, sub-clause 5 of the bill includes a provision for conducting separate assembly elections in any state. This bill, which aims to facilitate synchronized national elections, makes accommodations for scenarios where assembly elections cannot coincide with the Lok Sabha polls. The constitutional amendment bill stipulates that the President may issue an order that allows assemblies not synchronized with Lok Sabha elections to follow a democratic electoral process subsequently.
What Are the Provisions?
In essence, according to Subsection 5 of Section 2 of the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, should the Election Commission opine that an assembly election cannot be held concurrently with the general Lok Sabha elections, it can recommend to the President to announce separate elections. The President will issue an order, and assembly elections in that state may be conducted subsequently.
