39-member JPC on ‘one nation, one election’ bills announced
A 39-member Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was constituted on Friday to review two bills related to "one nation, one election".
Opposing the ‘one nation, one election’ proposal accepted by the Union Cabinet, Hyderabad MP and AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi said here on Wednesday that it would destroy federalism and weaken democracy which are integral to the Indian Constitution.
Soon after the Union Cabinet’s acceptance of the recommendation by a high-level committee headed by Ramnath Kovind, Owaisi registered his opposition to the move through an X post, saying, “I have consistently opposed One nation one election because it is a solution in search of a problem. It destroys federalism and compromises democracy which are part of the basic structure of the Constitution.”
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Owaisi, who is a vocal critic of the NDA government, went on to lambast Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for advocating the move. He said, “Multiple elections aren’t a problem for anyone except Modi and Shah. Just because they have a compulsive need to campaign in even municipal and local body elections does not mean that we need simultaneous polls. Frequent and periodic elections improve democratic accountability.”
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The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the recommendation of holding simultaneous elections soon after Shah said the current government would implement it within its tenure. In the first phase, the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections will be held simultaneously while all local body elections will be held within 100 days of general elections thereby completing the entire process at one go.
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