Oppn, BJP spar in 1st 'one poll' panel meet

Members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) backed two bills on simultaneous polls in India and said they reflected the people's will even as the Congress-led Opposition argued that the move violated the tenets of parliamentary democracy and made states subservient to the Centre as the first meeting of the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) examining the contentious legislation kicked off on Wednesday.

The four-and-a-half-hour meeting that began at llam also saw the Janata Dal (United), a key National Democratic Alliance member, raise questions about whether the laws infringed on federalism and sought to know how the rights of lawmakers were protected, said people aware of details.

The 39-member panel is examining the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill-which aim to usher in simultaneous polls in India - and is scheduled to complete its report by the first day of the last week of the 2025 budget session.

"Our efforts will be to listen to people from every field - be it from political parties, civil societies, or judiciary. We want to take everyone's input...Our effort will be to reach a consensus since the members who are part of the committee are eminent (personalities). I have faith that we will work for the nation's interest and reach a consensus," panel chair and BJP member PP Chaudhary told reporters.

Union law ministry officials provided each member of the panel with a suitcase packed with 18,000 pages of documents that contained the background information and the Kovind Panel report. The ministry also gave a detailed presentation on the background, rationale and proposals for simultaneous polls, said people aware of developments.

The proposal to align elections known colloquially as one nation, one poll (ONOP) was a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party's 2024 poll manifesto and is backed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who argues that it will trim election costs and shift the focus to governance.

But the proposal is fiercely opposed by a raft of political parties and activists who allege that it will hurt democratic accountability and federalism.

The bills propose the alignment process to begin in 2029 and the first simultaneous elections in 2034.

The JPC has 22 members from the NDA, 15 from the INDIA bloc, and two others.