Today in Politics: Govt to move motion for ‘One Nation, One Election’ Bills to be referred to joint parliamentary committee

Former Union minister Parshottambhai Rupala, Bhartruhari Mahtab, Anil Baluni, C M Ramesh, Bansuri Swaraj, Vishnu Dayal Ram and Sambit Patra are among the BJP’s Lok Sabha members to be part of the panel.

Manish Tewari and Sukhdeo Bhagat of the Congress, Shrikant Shinde of the Shiv Sena, Dharmendra Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, Kalyan Banerjee of the Trinamool Congress, T M Selvaganapathi of the DMK, G M Harish Balayogi of the Telugu Desam Party, Supriya Sule of the NCP (SP), Chandan Chauhan of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, and Balashowry Vallabhaneni of the JanaSena Party are other Lok Sabha members.

The Rajya Sabha will name its 10 members for the committee in a separate communication.

Among the Lok Sabha members proposed to be on the committee, 14 are from the BJP-led NDA.

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 the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a fiery debate. Opposition parties dubbed the draft laws as an attack on the federal structure, a charge rejected by the government.

J&K security review

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, the first such meeting after the recent Assembly polls, on Thursday, sources said.

J&K Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha, top officers of the Army, paramilitary forces, J&K administration, intelligence agencies and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) are expected to attend the meeting. “The home minister will review the security situation in J&K. He will be briefed about the prevailing situation in the Union Territory and the situation along the border areas,” sources said.

After the abrogation of the Article 370 and bifurcation of the erstwhile state into two UTs in 2019, the law and order is the direct responsibility of the central government.

Sporadic incidents have been continuing in J&K. Most recently, on October 20, seven people were killed in a terror attack in central Kashmir. Before that, there were attacks on outsiders working in Kashmir. The meeting is expected to take note of recent terror incidents and possible steps to be taken on how to stop such attacks, sources said.

Maharashtra Council chair election

BJP MLC Ram Shinde on Wednesday filed nomination for election to the post of chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council. The election will be held on Thursday and if Shinde gets elected, the top presiding officer’s posts in both Houses of the state legislature will be with the BJP.

Shinde became an MLC in 2022. He served as a minister in the previous Devendra Fadnavis government (from 2014-19). Shinde had lost to NCP (SP) leader Rohit Pawar from the Karjat Jamkhed seat in the November 20 Assembly polls by a narrow margin.

The Council chairperson’s post has been lying vacant since July 7, 2022, after NCP leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar’s term ended.

Last week, BJP MLA Rahul Narwekar was elected unopposed as the Speaker of the 15th Maharashtra Assembly.

Delhi L-G asks Assembly to table CAG reports

Delhi Lieutenant-Governor V K Saxena has written to CM Atishi, slamming the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government over a “deliberate lapse” in tabling 14 Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) reports in the Assembly and advised her to summon a special session of the House on December 19 or 20 to do so. However, it remains unclear if the AAP will agree to such a session, ahead of the coming Delhi Assembly polls.

The L-G added that ordinarily, he would not have indicated a time frame for calling a special sitting of the House on short notice, but the situation was “extraordinary” as the term of the current Assembly is set to expire in February 2025.

– With PTI inputs