The first meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on the ‘One Nation, One Election’ (ONOE) bills was held Wednesday. The meeting saw intense discussions between opposition MPs and BJP leaders regarding the bill. Opposition MPs, including Congress’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, questioned if ONOE would reduce expenditure. They also questioned if an estimate had been conducted after the 2004 general elections, when EVMs were used for the first time in all 543 parliamentary seats.
The BJP MPs countered claims that ONOE violated constitutional principles by dissolving state assemblies early and aligning their tenure with the Lok Sabha. BJP MP Sanjay Jaiswal said that seven state assemblies were dissolved early in 1957 to ensure simultaneous elections, asking if then President Dr Rajendra Prasad and lawmakers, including those in Jawaharlal Nehru’s government, had “acted in violation of the Constitution.”
BJP MP VD Sharma defended the proposal, stating that “the idea of simultaneous elections was reflective of the popular will.” He cited a high-level committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind, which consulted over 25,000 members of the public, with an overwhelming majority supporting the idea.
