Ex-CJI BR Gavai, IMF's Gita Gopinath to brief Parliament panel on 'One Nation One Election' Bill

New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India BR Gavai, IMF First Deputy Managing Director Gita Gopinath, senior MP-lawyer Kapil Sibal as well as Law Commission and Election Commission will appear before the Joint Committee of Parliament examining the ‘One Nation One Election’ (ONOE) Bill between December 4 and 17.

Justice Gavai will appear before the panel headed by BJP MP PP Chaudhary examining the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, providing for simultaneous polls on December 17.

On the same day, Gopinath and Sanjeev Sanyal, who is a member of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, have also been called to appear. Before Justice Gavai, former Chief Justices of India Sanjiv Khanna, DY Chandrachud, UU Lalit, DY Chandrachud and JS Khehar have also appeared before the panel.

While the Law Commission representatives are called on December 4, when Delhi High Court advocate J Sai Deepak has also been asked to appear before it.

On December 10, senior lawyer and MP Sibal and representatives of the Election Commission have been invited to share their comments.

The 39-member multi-party panel held its first meeting on January 8 this year. The Bills were introduced on December 17 in Lok Sabha last year and sent to the JPC for further scrutiny. 

The Lok Sabha extended the tenure of the ONOE panel till the last week of the Winter session and it is likely to seek further extension.

A section of jurists who have appeared before the panel had found fault with a provision in the Bill that provides clearance to the Election Commission to decide on postponing Assembly elections, saying it will open to questions of violating the basic structure doctrine and Article 14.

Justice Khanna is learnt to have told the panel that postponement of elections by the EC might result in “indirect” President’s Rule, which “in other words” the taking over of the reins of the state government by the union government. He had felt that this “will be questionable judicially, as violating” the federal structure.

Justices Lalit, Chandrachud and Khehar were also among others who had flagged concerns over the provision in the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 2024 that allows EC to unilaterally recommend to the President on not holding election to a state Assembly along with other polls to be held simultaneously.