Latest news with #JointCommitteeofParliament
Hans India
12-07-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
Ex CJIs Khehar, Chandrachud appear before ONOE panel
Former chief justices of India, J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud, are interacting on Friday with the parliamentary committee scrutinising the simultaneous election bill as it held its eighth sitting. Sources said both jurists are of the view that the concept of 'one nation one election' is not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution but have questioned the extent of power vested with the Election Commission in the proposed law. They have also made certain suggestions while throwing light on the journey of parliamentary system of democracy in the country. The Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary has been speaking to jurists and legal experts as it prepares its recommendation on the bill. Two other former chief justices of India, U U Lalit and Ranjan Gogoi, have appeared before the committee in past. While both of them did not question the constitutionality of simultaneous elections, they have questioned some aspects of the bill and offered suggestions.
Indian Express
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Joint polls constitutional, say ex-CJIs, question sweeping powers to EC in Bill
Former Chief Justices of India Justice J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud, who appeared Friday before the Joint Committee of Parliament on the 'One Nation, One Election' (ONOE) Bill, are learnt to have said that the Bill does not violate the basic structure of the Constitution. However, they were said to have underlined that the Bill in its present form may not pass the Constitution muster, especially with regard to the sweeping powers given to the Election Commission of India. Earlier, former CJIs UU Lalit and Ranjan Gogoi, who too appeared before the panel, had raised the issue of possible legal challenges to the Bill. Justices Khehar and Chandrachud had almost a five-hour-long discussion with the committee. They were said to have not only gone through the entire Bill, provision by provision, but also discussed the larger issues of constitutional philosophy, morality and politics associated with the Bill. Later, committee chairperson P P Chaudhary said, 'It was a rich discussion. We got valuable inputs and many issues that members had were clarified. Justice Khehar told the members that it was a golden opportunity for nation-building and that they should avail it as they will not get it back again.' Parliamentary committee proceedings are privileged, and details of exchanges between members during meetings are not made public. Issues related to the Bill being silent on situations such as imposition of Emergency in a state or whether elections could be forced even if an Assembly had just three months of tenure left at the time of dissolution also came up. On whether simultaneous elections would lead to dilution of local issues, Justice Chandrachud, it is learnt, said the exact opposite might happen too. He was said to have cited the example of the language issue, a regional issue with the potential to become a national voting agenda in simultaneous polls. In the context of the powers given to the ECI and the Bill being silent on many electoral situations, Justice Chandrachud flagged legal challenges and proposed some redrafting of the Bill. It is learnt he suggested that it was time to give thought to some constraints on the no-confidence motion provision to ensure some stability. This, he suggested, could be done by just amending the rules of the House, requiring no constitutional amendment. He was said to have told the committee that asynchronous (non-simultaneous) elections were not held as a criteria of a free and fair election and were not part of the basic structure. In fact, the constitutional scheme early in the history of the republic was to hold simultaneous elections, he pointed out. Justice Khehar too gave a similar opinion. On the proposed Article 82A (1), he observed that the clause only fixed the appointed date, which would be the first sitting of the new Lok Sabha, and brought about no change in the conduct of election or tenure of the House, so it was not violative of the Constitution. All Assemblies elected after the appointed date would have their terms ending with that of the Lok Sabha, as per the Bill. In Justice Chandrachud's view, the Constitution only provides for a maximum term, that is five years, and there is no minimum guaranteed term. He was said to have pointed out that in a parliamentary democracy, there was no guaranteed term at all, and a government had to prove its mandate throughout the five years, through the check of the no-confidence motion. Justice Khehar observed that the Bill, while curtailing the term of Assemblies to only the unexpired term i.e less than 5 years, also ensures that the electorate is clearly informed about the reduced term at the time of voting. Damini Nath is an Assistant Editor with the national bureau of The Indian Express. She covers the housing and urban affairs and Election Commission beats. She has 11 years of experience as a reporter and sub-editor. Before joining The Indian Express in 2022, she was a reporter with The Hindu's national bureau covering culture, social justice, housing and urban affairs and the Election Commission. ... Read More
The Hindu
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Former CJIs Khehar, Chandrachud appear before parliamentary committee on simultaneous elections
Former Chief Justices of India, J.S. Khehar and D.Y. Chandrachud, are interacting on Friday (July 11, 2025) with the parliamentary committee scrutinising the simultaneous election bill as it held its eighth sitting. The Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP P.P. Chaudhary has been speaking to jurists and legal experts as it prepares its recommendation on the bill. Also read | One Nation One Election and representative democracy Two other former Chief Justices of India, U.U. Lalit and Ranjan Gogoi, have appeared before the committee in past. While both of them did not question the constitutionality of simultaneous elections, they have questioned some aspects of the bill and offered suggestions.
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Business Standard
11-07-2025
- Politics
- Business Standard
Ex CJIs Khehar, Chandrachud appear before ONOE parliamentary committee
Both jurists are of the view that the concept of 'one nation one election' is not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution but have questioned the extent of power vested with the ECI Press Trust of India New Delhi Former chief justices of India, J S Khehar and D Y Chandrachud, are interacting on Friday with the parliamentary committee scrutinising the simultaneous election bill as it held its eighth sitting. Sources said both jurists are of the view that the concept of 'one nation one election' is not violative of the basic structure of the Constitution but have questioned the extent of power vested with the Election Commission in the proposed law. They have also made certain suggestions while throwing light on the journey of parliamentary system of democracy in the country. The Joint Committee of Parliament headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary has been speaking to jurists and legal experts as it prepares its recommendation on the bill. Two other former chief justices of India, U U Lalit and Ranjan Gogoi, have appeared before the committee in past. While both of them did not question the constitutionality of simultaneous elections, they have questioned some aspects of the bill and offered suggestions. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Indian Express
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Indian Express
Delhi Confidential: Route Change
The Joint Committee of Parliament examining the Bills for simultaneous elections has decided to put off its visit to Jammu and Kashmir that was planned as part of its study tours to states and UTs, it is learnt. The committee, which is chaired by BJP MP P P Chaudhary, was planning to visit J&K in June, after visiting Uttarakhand and Maharashtra in May. Now, the committee will go to Himachal Pradesh instead of J&K to avoid burdening the security apparatus and the local administration. The committee will also visit Chandigarh, where it will interact with stakeholders of the UT of Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana. Batch Of Honour On Monday, a National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) workshop saw two IPS batchmates with vast experience of national security discussing disaster mitigation. Both 1989-batch IPS officers, Safi Ahsan Rizvi is NDMA Adviser (Mitigation), while Vivek Srivastava is posted as Director General, Fire Services, Civil Defence and Home Guards. Rizvi has been overseeing key policy prescriptions of the authority on disaster mitigation and risk reduction since 2023, while Srivastava has been helming key projects on fire safety. Srivastava also has first-hand experience of post-disaster response, as he was posted as SP in Kutch during the January 2001 Bhuj earthquake.
