Parliamentary panel on One Nation One Election set for first time on Jan 8

The first meeting of the 39-member parliamentary panel on 'one nation, one election' is set to be held on January 8, setting the tone for nationwide deliberations on the key poll reform measure of the BJP-led NDA government.

Parliamentary sources said the first meeting of the Joint Committee on bills for simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, chaired by BJP member P P Chaudhary, is likely to be an introductory one with officials briefing the panel on the two bills to implement a long-cherished election promise of the BJP.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill were introduced in the Lok Sabha last week and referred to the joint committee of Parliament on Friday, the last day of the Winter Session.

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

Former Union ministers Anurag Thakur, Parshottam Rupala and Manish Tewari and several first-term lawmakers, including Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, Bansuri Swaraj and Sambit Patra, are members of the committee.

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