Parliament session LIVE: The Winter Session of Parliament, which began on November 25 has entered its final week. It will go on till December 20. On Tuesday, the Narendra Modi-led Central government listed the constitutional amendment bill allowing simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly elections. Union law minister Arjun Ram Meghwal introduced the bill for “one nation, one election” in the Lok Sabha. It is expected that he could request Speaker Om Birla to refer the bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament for wider consultations.
The bill, which also seeks to align the elections of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the NCT of Delhi, was cleared by the Cabinet last week.
The proposal to align elections has been a part of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) 2024 poll manifesto and has the backing of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, it faces opposition from a raft of political parties and activists who allege that it will hurt democratic accountability.
More on the Winter Session of Parliament:
- The Congress has issued a whip to its Lok Sabha MPs, mandating their presence in the House, with the constitutional amendment bill for holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously listed for introduction.
- The party’s Lok Sabha MPs will also hold a meeting at 10.30 AM to discuss Tuesday’s business in the House at the Congress Parliamentary Party office in Parliament
- A similar whip, mandating their presence in the House, has also been issued by the Shiv Sena.
- The Rajya Sabha is holding a two-day debate on the Constitution, which completed 75 years on November 26. A similar debate was held in the Lok Sabha last week.
