Lok Sabha refers bill on simultaneous elections to joint parliamentary committee

Minister of State Arjun Ram Meghwal speaks in the Lok Sabha during the Winter session of Parliament, in New Delhi, on Dec. 17, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The 129th Constitution Amendment Bill, seeking to implement simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Assemblies, has been referred to a joint parliamentary committee after Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced it in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday (December 17, 2024) after a brief discussion.

The Bill was introduced in the House through a division of votes after Opposition members insisted on it. While 269 members voted for it, 198 members opposed it.

Most Opposition leaders asserted that the Bill went against the basic structure of the Constitution and was “anti-federal”.

Leading the charge from the Opposition benches, Congress member Manish Tewari said that the tenure of State Legislatures cannot be subject to the tenure of the Lok Sabha. He cited the Bill as a case of excessive centralism.

Home Minister Amit Shah told the House that when the bill was being approved in the Union Cabinet, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had suggested to send it to a joint parliamentary committee.

The bill seeks to insert a new article in the Constitution and amend three articles to put in place the mechanism to hold simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. It seeks to insert a new article 82A — simultaneous elections to the House of the People (Lok Sabha) and all legislative Assemblies and to amend Article 83 (Duration of Houses of Parliament), Article 172 (Duration of State Legislatures) and Article 327 (power of Parliament to make provision with respect to elections to Legislatures).