Priyanka Gandhi likely to be in parliament panel for 'One Nation, One Election' bill

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. Pic/PTI

Members of Parliament (MPs) Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari are set to be among the Congress representatives in the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) on ‘One Nation, One Election' bill, reported news agency PTI.

Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress and P Wilson of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) are also expected to be its members, PTI stated.

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The committee is expected to have 21 MPs from Lok Sabha and 10 from Rajya Sabha. The panel will see a majority of representatives from BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) and its allies owing to their numerical superiority in Parliament.

MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad, Anurag Thakur and PP Chaudhary are being considered for the panel from the party. Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena and Sanjay Jha of the Janata Dal (United), both allies of BJP, may also be included as members.

Most of the parties have conveyed their choices to the government, which will move a motion in Lok Sabha to send the bills on 'One Nation, One Election' to the joint committee. The Speaker will take a final call on the names for the panel and its chairperson, stated PTI.

Other representatives from the Congress for the joint committee of Parliament are Sukhdeo Bhagat and Randeep Surjewala. TMC leader Saket Gokhale and TM Selvaganapathi of DMK are also expected to be part of the panel, as per PTI.

While Prasad, a well known lawyer, has held the portfolio of law minister in the previous Modi government, Chaudhary was a deputy minister in the crucial ministry, stated PTI.

Chandrababu Naidu's Telugu Desam Party (TDP), BJP's biggest ally, is to either send Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu or G M Harish Balayogi to be in the panel.

The two 'One Nation, One Election' bills, including one requiring an amendment in the Constitution, lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections and were introduced in Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a fiery debate.

Opposition parties dubbed the draft laws - a Constitution amendment bill and an ordinary bill - as an attack on the federal structure, a charge rejected by the government, stated PTI.

Gandhi termed the bills as "anti-constitutional" and said, "It is against the federalism of our nation. We are opposing the bill."

BJP and its allies such as TDP, JD(U) and Shiv Sena have stoutly defended the bills, saying frequent elections are an obstruction to development programmes and simultaneous polls will boost them by cutting down on election expenditure, PTI reported.

( With inputs from PTI )