Priyanka Gandhi and Shrikant Shinde Expected to Join Joint Parliamentary Committee on ONOE Bills

New Delhi, Dec 18: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is evaluating veteran MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad and Nishikant Dubey as potential nominees for the parliamentary panel tasked with reviewing the bills on simultaneous elections. Meanwhile, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Manish Tewari are poised to represent the Congress party, as per sources.
Other Congress candidates for the joint committee include Sukhdeo Bhagat and Randeep Surjewala.
The panel is also expected to include Kalyan Banerjee and Saket Gokhale from the Trinamool Congress, Shrikant Shinde from the Shiv Sena, Sanjay Jha from the JD(U), T.M. Selvaganapathi and P. Wilson from the DMK, and may comprise a total of 31 members — 21 from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha.
Sources indicated that Anurag Thakur and P.P. Chaudhary are also being considered as possible BJP nominees. The BJP and its allies will hold a majority on the panel due to their superior numbers in Parliament.
On Tuesday, two ‘One Nation One Election’ (ONOE) bills, including one which necessitates a constitutional amendment outlining the process for conducting simultaneous elections, were introduced in the Lok Sabha following a spirited debate.
Opposition parties have criticized these draft laws—a constitutional amendment bill and an ordinary bill—as a threat to the federal structure, a claim the government has dismissed.
Speaking to reporters on Parliament grounds, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi labeled the bills as “anti-constitutional.” She stated, “This goes against the federalism of our nation, and we are opposed to the bill.” In contrast, the BJP and its allies, including the TDP, JD(U), and Shiv Sena, have strongly defended the bills, arguing that frequent elections hinder developmental initiatives and that simultaneous polls would alleviate electoral costs and facilitate progress. (Agencies)