Former CJIs to present views before ONOE panel

New Delhi: Former chief justices of India D Y Chandrachud and J S Kehar would appear before the parliamentary panel scrutinising the bills proposing simultaneous polls, a source said on Thursday.

The next meeting of the Joint Committee on the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth (Amendment) Bill, 2024 and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024 has been scheduled for July 11 when the panel members will hold interaction with the two retired chief justices, the source added.

Besides, senior advocate and former Rajya Sabha member E M Sudarsana Natchiappan, who is also a former chairperson of the standing committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice, and former Union law minister and former Karnataka chief minister M Veerappa Moily would also appear before the panel for an interaction.

The 39-member committee is in the process of scrutinising two bills on simultaneous elections, including one for amending the Constitution.

The tenure of the committee headed by BJP MP P P Chaudhary has extended till the first day of the last week of Parliament's monsoon session.

The bill was sent to the panel in December last year after being introduced in Lok Sabha.

The government has asserted that simultaneous elections would boost development, as frequent elections hampered development work, and reduce public expenditure.

Opposition parties have slammed the idea as "unconstitutional" and against federalism.