Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal has proposed to send the Bills related to ‘One Nation, One Election’ to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Thursday as per the agenda of the Lok Sabha.
Former Union ministers Anurag Thakur and PP Chaudhary of the BJP, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra of the Congress are among the 21 Lok Sabha members, who will be part of the parliamentary panel that will scrutinize the two bills in simultaneous elections.
Meghwal will also propose that the committee submit its report on the first day of the last week of the next session.
Former Union Ministers Parashottambhai Rupala, Bhartrihari Mahtab, Anil Baluni, CM Ramesh, Bansuri Swaraj, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sambit Patra are BJP’s Lok Sabha members on this panel.
Manish Tiwari and Sukhdev Bhagat of Congress, Shrikant Shinde of Shiv Sena, Dharmendra Yadav of Samajwadi Party, Kalyan Banerjee of Trinamool Congress, TM Selvaganapathy of DMK, GM Harish Balayogi of Telugu Desam Party, NCP’s Supriya Sule. (SP), Chandan Chauhan of Rashtriya Lok Dal and Vallabhaneni of Balashori Janasena Party are the other Lok Sabha members.
The Rajya Sabha will name its 10 members for the committee in a separate communication.
Among the proposed Lok Sabha members in the committee, 14 are from the BJP-led NDA.
In the ‘One Nation, One Election’ bill, two bills with the mechanism of simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a heated debate. The opposition parties have accused the government of rejecting the draft law as an attack on the federal structure.
J&K Security Review
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the first such meeting since the recent assembly elections, on Thursday, sources said.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, top officials of the Army, paramilitary forces, Jammu and Kashmir administration, intelligence agencies and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are expected to attend the meeting. “The Home Minister will review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir. He will be apprised of the prevailing situation in the Union Territory and the situation in the border areas,” sources said.
After the abrogation of Article 370 and the bifurcation of the former state into two union territories in 2019, law and order is the direct responsibility of the central government.
Sporadic incidents continue in J&K. Recently, on October 20, seven people were killed in a terrorist attack in central Kashmir. Earlier too, foreign workers working in Kashmir were attacked. The meeting is expected to comment on the recent terror incidents and possible steps on how to prevent such attacks, sources said.
Maharashtra Council President Election
BJP MLC Ram Shinde filed his nomination papers for the post of Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Council on Wednesday. Elections will be held on Thursday and if Shinde is elected, the BJP will hold the top posts of Speaker in both houses of the state legislature.
Shinde became MLC in 2022. He served as a minister in the previous Devendra Fadnavis government (from 2014-19). Shinde was narrowly defeated by NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar from the Karjat Jamkhed seat in the November 20 assembly elections.
After the term of CPN leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar ended, the post of chairman of the council is vacant from July 7, 2022.
Last week, BJP MLA Rahul Narvekar was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Maharashtra Assembly.
Delhi LG asks Assembly to table CAG reports
Delhi Lt-Governor VK Saxena has written to Chief Minister Atishi, criticizing the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government for “deliberate omission” to table 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the Assembly and advising him to call a special session. The House to do so on December 19 or 20. However, it is unclear whether the AAP would agree to such a session, ahead of the upcoming Delhi assembly elections.
The LG added that normally, he does not indicate a time limit for convening a special session of the House at short notice, but the situation was “extraordinary” as the term of the current assembly ends in February 2025.
– With PTI input