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Informist, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024

 

NEW DELHI – The Narendra Modi government does not have the required strength of members in the Lok Sabha to pass the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, which proposes simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state Assemblies. Voting for introduction of the bill in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday showed that the government was way behind the two-thirds majority required to pass a Constitutional amendment bill.

 

At least 263 members voted for introduction of the legislation, while 198 members opposed it. The government was far away from the two-thirds majority figure - 307 out of the 467 members present in the House.

 

The bill was introduced by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal as introduction of a Constitutional amendment bill requires only a simple majority in the House. However, for the amendment to the Constitution, the legislation has to be passed by two-thirds majority in the House, according to Article 368 of the Constitution.

 

The National Democratic Alliance has a total strength of 293 members, while the opposition has a strength of nearly 234 members in the Lower House. In a Lok Sabha at full strength, a bill to amend the Constitution will need 362 votes to pass. Apart from its allies, the government has the support of the YSR Congress Party with four members and the Shiramani Akali Dal with one member. This, however, will not be enough to clear the bill. The government will require the support of 64 more members in the event of full strength of the Lok Sabha, which makes it a Herculean task to get the Constitutional amendment bill passed.

 

Following the introduction of the bill, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said the introduction clearly showed that the BJP lacked the two-thirds majority required to pass the Constitutional amendment bill. "Congress is not the only party to oppose the bill. The vast majority of the opposition parties opposed this bill on multiple grounds. It is a violation of the federal structure of the constitution," Tharoor told the media.

 

Seeking the withdrawal of the bill, Congress member Manish Tewari said the tenure of state legislatures cannot be subject to the tenure of the Lok Sabha. The Congress party also said that the bill sought to give illegal powers to the Election Commission to advise the president. The Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and several other opposition parties also opposed introduction of the bill.

 

Amid the strong objection to the introduction of bills by opposition parties, Home Minister Amit Shah said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested that the bills should be referred to the joint committee of Parliament.

 

The bill proposes to introduce a new Article 82A for holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and all legislative assemblies. It also proposes to amend Article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament), article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures) and article 327 (Power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures).

 

The bill provides that after its enactment, a notification is to be issued by the president on the date of the first sitting of the Lok Sabha after a General Election, and that date of the notification will be called the appointed date.

 

"The tenure of the House of the People shall be five years from that appointed date. The tenure of all Assemblies, constituted by elections to the Legislative Assemblies after the appointed date and before the expiry of the full term of the House of the People, shall come to an end at the expiry of the full term of the House of the People," the Statement of Objects and Reasons reads.

Following this, elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies will be held together. In case of dissolution of the Lok Sabha or an assembly prior to the completion of the full term, elections will be held for the unexpired term. The unexpired term refers to the period between the date of dissolution of the Lok Sabha or state assembly and five years from the date of first meeting.

 

If the Parliament passes the one nation, one election bill, the country will see its first simultaneous elections in 2034. As of 2024, only four states – Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha – hold elections along with Lok Sabha polls.  End

 

Reported by Kuldeep Singh

Edited by Avishek Dutta

 

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