NEW DELHI: At the third meeting of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) examining the ‘One Nation One Election (ONOE)’ Bill, former Chief Justice of India U U Lalit made several suggestions, including rolling out simultaneous polls in a phased manner, said sources.During his deposition before the panel, Lalit said the concept of simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections was good in theory but many factors should be addressed for its smooth implementation. While Lalit served as the 49th CJI for a brief tenure in 2022, he was part of the Constitution bench that banned triple Talaq in 2017. In 2019, he recused himself from the Babri Masjid -Ayodhya dispute verdict.Former Law Commission of India chairperson Ritu Raj Awasthi also shared his views as the panel began consulting experts and stakeholders. However, several Opposition members criticised the Bill, with Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra claiming “ONOE” will weaken democracy by tinkering with tenure of legislatures and impinge on people’s rights, according to sources.Others including TMC’s Kalyan Banerjee, DMK’s P Wilson and Congress’ Manish Tewari raised several concerns regarding the Bill, arguing that it will undermine federalism and is anti- constitutional. A BJP ally wondered if a gap of five years between two elections will weaken elected representatives’ accountability to people, they added.Awasthi spoke in detail about the benefits of the simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly elections in terms of savings and boost to development. He argued that the Bill is in accordance with basic structure of the Constitution and it doesn’t violate the Constitution or undermine federalism.
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