Two Bills on simultaneous elections rock Parliament

Opposition terms legislation an assault on basic structure of Constitution; Law Minister says no change to powers enjoyed by the States, agrees to send Bills to Joint Parliamentary Committee; 263 members voted in favour of introducing the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill, 198 opposed it

Two Bills seeking to implement simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and the State Assemblies were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday by Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal after an intense debate during which Opposition members asserted that the legislation were “anti-federal” and went against the Basic Structure of the Constitution.

The Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill was introduced in the House by Mr. Meghwal after a 90-minute debate, followed by a division of votes as Opposition members insisted on it. While 263 members voted in favour of introducing the Bill, 198 opposed it.

The Law Minister also introduced the Union Territories Amendment Bill, which seeks to align elections in the Union territories of Puducherry, Delhi, and Jammu and Kashmir with the Lok Sabha election.

Responding to the debate, Mr. Meghwal said the legislation do not tamper with the powers enjoyed by the States. He said that principles such as judicial review, federal character of the Constitution, separation of powers, secular character, supremacy of the Constitution do not change with these Bills.

“There will be no tampering with the Basic Structure of the Constitution,” Mr. Meghwal said, before agreeing to move a resolution to send the Bills to a Joint Committee of Parliament.

Opposition’s charge

Leading the Opposition’s charge was Congress member Manish Tewari, who called the move an “assault on the Basic Structure of the Constitution and beyond the legislative competence of this House”.

“How is it possible under our constitutional scheme that the tenures of State legislatures can be made subject to the tenure of the national legislature... Under the constitutional scheme, the States are separate and equal constituents,” Mr. Tewari said.

Home Minister Amit Shah informed the House that when the two Bills were being approved by the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had favoured referring them to a Joint Committee of Parliament for wider deliberations at every level.

“Detailed discussions can take place in the JPC. The report of the JPC will be approved by the Cabinet. Then again, there will be a discussion on this in the House,” he said.

The Opposition leaders argued that the constitutional amendment would make the State legislatures “subordinate” to Parliament and, therefore, would undermine the mandate of the people of a State.

“The State government is not subordinate to the Central government or Parliament. The Bills take away the autonomy of the State Assembly. It is not an election reform but just the fulfilment of one gentleman’s desire and dream,” Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said.

Making a powerful intervention, the Congress’s deputy leader of the House, Gaurav Gogoi, argued that the Bills give “excessive powers” to the Election Commission, whose role and powers have been circumscribed in the Constitution.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader T.R. Baalu said, “The electors have the right to elect the government for five years and this right cannot be curtailed with simultaneous elections.”

Mr. Baalu, Mr. Gogoi, and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) member Supriya Sule favoured referring the Bills to a parliamentary committee, if they could not be withdrawn.

Samajwadi Party member Dharmendra Yadav said the move would take away the plurality and diversity of the States, while All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Asaduddin Owaisi claimed that the Bills will “finish off regional parties”. “The Bills indirectly seek to introduce Presidential form of democracy,” Mr. Owaisi said.

There was also a heated debate over Speaker Om Birla allowing members of the Treasury Benches — the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Shiv Sena (Shinde) — to speak on the Bills.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said the Speaker had given a ruling to allow floor leaders of all parties to speak on the introduction of the Bills. “You alone do not represent Parliament, every political party has a representation here,” Mr. Rijiju said.

The TDP and the Shiv Sena, both BJP allies, extended “unwavering support” for the Bills.

Congress MPs Manickam Tagore and Shashi Tharoor cited the division of votes to point out the political challenge for the government.

“My view is that this entire thing is a folly. In any case, the votes today have demonstrated that the BJP does not have the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment,” Mr. Tharoor said.

While a simple majority is required to introduce a Bill to amend the Constitution, its passage requires two-thirds majority. So, of the 461 MPs present on Tuesday, the government would have required more than 307 MPs voting in its favour.

“If there would have been a voting on these Bills today, the Bills would not have passed...,”Mr. Tagore added.

This is the first time that the electronic voting system was used in the new Parliament. Being a first for MPs, 369 MPs cast their votes through the electronic voting system. The remaining 92 votes were cast through slips in which 43 were in favour and 49 were against the motion.

Published - December 17, 2024 02:09 pm IST